Black, White, and Cigarette Smoke
by Xerxies19
Summary: Seifer Almasy and Hayner Corneo live a life of deception and violence on two sides of a line. As a detective tasked with helping the son of the mob boss gather evidence to bring the crime ring down, Seifer learns the line can be blurred. Seiner. Slash.
1. One Innocent Man

A/N: This story is almost completely alternate universe. Still takes place in a heavily modified Twilight Town, still has characters from the KH/FF franchises, but that's about it. Rated for blood, language, and implicit and/or explicit sexual content. This is slash, with multiple slash and het pairings but focusing mainly on Hayner and Seifer. Another author's note at the end of the chapter.

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><p>Seifer knocked on the hard wood door before opening it and entering. He never bothered to wait for permission, but he always knocked first. Tseng didn't usually mind him walking in on a conversation, but he hated people coming in unannounced, and the icy man was not someone the blond man wanted to piss off. Boss or not.<p>

For once, the lead detective wasn't on his phone whispering in code, which was enough to set Seifer on edge. No point trying to read his body language, Tseng couldn't be moved to emotion by any less than a major catastrophe when he was on the job. His dark eyes regarded his subordinate for a moment, before he laced his gloved hands together and rested his chin on them, eyes flicking to the chair in signal. The other man settled into it and gestured for his leader to begin.

"Detective Almasy, I assure you if you repeat any of what you are about to hear to anyone outside of our organization, you will find yourself in a compromising position faster than you can blink," The Wutaian began, the use of his last name and the thinly veiled death threat only sharpening the younger detective's sense of dread. Seifer nodded mutely to show that he understood, trying to keep his curiosity from showing. He'd known Tseng for years, long before he joined the force, and the other had rarely been so formal with him.

"You've often questioned why I keep you off the Corneo case, despite your repeated attempts to persuade me otherwise, today is your answer. I've been saving you for this, since you graduated I've been planning this in secret. Everyone here is invested in this investigation one way or another, and the Mafia is all too aware of who they are. Except you. For all they know you're just another punk kid trying to make it as a vigilante with a badge.

"If you can succeed at this one job, we'll have all the evidence we need to put every one of Corneo's men behind bars, including the man himself. With one exception of course, we agreed amnesty to the person who's going to be handing over everything."

"With all due respect, Tseng," the blond bit out, eyes narrowed, "I don't really think we should give anyone remotely tied to that family anything, much less forgiveness."

"That's not your choice to make, Detective. I think you'd change your mind after dealing with them a while. They're an old friend of about half our organization, they'd escape the law one way or another. Besides, don't you think there might be at least one innocent man in the Mafia?"

Dark eyes squared off against ice blue ones until eventually Seifer looked away, internally scoffing at the suggestion. If the boss trusted this guy he had to be something, but even that didn't override his encompassing hatred for anyone remotely tied to that name. He caught himself about to raise his hand to rub his scar, held back the impulse knowing it would be all too telling to his superior.

"Regardless, your job for the next few weeks is fairly simple. Protect your charge with your life. Only three rules, don't get yourself shot, don't get our informant shot, and don't get attached."

"So, what, lethal force authorized and all that? You make it sound like I can do whatever the fuck I want besides that, maybe steal from the station's seizures?" He said flippantly, disguising his growing unease with the whole idea.

"Do whatever it takes to get the job done, we'll clean the mess you make up later. Roxas will have the keys and your budget ready for you by the end of the day. He'll give you the location of our meeting place, where you'll be debriefed fully and begin your mission. You'll be undercover, but there won't be a lot of secrecy. Hope you know how to pretend to be a dirty cop, otherwise Hayner will have his hands full improvising."

The name sparked a moment of recognition back in his mind and he pursued it for a moment before his eyes snapped to Tseng in shock. He couldn't be serious.

"No fucking way. You are not talking about Hayner Corneo. Please tell me you're joking or this is just some hilarious coincidence. I refuse-"

"You refuse nothing, Seifer. You will perform to your greatest ability, you will succeed, and you _will_ protect Hayner Corneo with your life until he's gathered all the evidence we need. This has been going on for longer than you've been a Turk, and it could finally grant everyone the justice they demand. You have no choice," the lead detective snapped, his voice raised ever so slightly, brows furrowed hard over dark eyes. He'd never heard Tseng raise his voice, not once in the years he'd known the man. It effectively brought every argument he had down around his ears, he couldn't stand in the way of something so important it drove his superior to carefully restrained fury.

"Fine, I'll do it. I better get a fucking raise for this, by the way," he snarled as he got up and headed for the door.

"Seifer, if you succeed I'll give you a bonus big enough to let you retire twenty years early. You know who approves our budget. Just don't fuck this up."

The door slamming was Seifer's reply.

* * *

><p>He finished most of the stack of paperwork he had for that day and was almost to Roxas's desk when he noticed a small gathering at his desired location. Olette, Pence, Axel, Reno and Zexion were there, the air oppressive around them as they all turned to regard him. He tensed and entered, looking to Roxas for some sort of explanation. It was his office after all.<p>

"We all know about it, don't worry about revealing information. Every Turk here knows, Tseng pulled us all aside about a week ago. We all have personal ties to Hayner and we care quite a bit about the outcome of this operation. He's risking his life to help us, and if you fuck it up and get him killed you'd better leave town fast. He's a better man than any of us will ever be, so get rid of your stupid preconceptions about him right the fuck here, got it?"

He felt cornered, danger lurking under each of the spiky-haired blond's words. Scrambling for something to say in return, he finally spat out, "And why the hell do any of you know or care about the son of-"

"Don't finish that sentence, don't talk about him like that, you wanna know why we all care so damn much? He saved our lives. All of us. Stuck his neck out for us in one way or another and it's cost him a lot more than you can imagine. Don't ever treat him with disrespect," Axel ground out, verdigris eyes narrowed to slits, promises of fire dancing behind them.

Scowling as he attempted to process the only son of the most ruthless crime boss being a genuinely honorable person capable of saving the lives of others, he just snatched the files and keycards from Roxas and left, feeling the heat of several pairs of eyes on his back.

Who the fuck was Hayner and why did everyone treat him like a hero?

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><p>After nearly going back to ask Roxas if his budget was a mistake, Seifer came to the gradual realization that this was real. He had full no-questions access to the seizure locker and all its contents, and his available funds was all that plus half a million. He knew exactly where it was coming from and that they'd likely seize twice that if everything went over correctly, but it was still a terrifying amount of responsibility suddenly being dumped on him. He went home and stared at the TV for an hour before realizing he never turned it on and headed to bed.<p>

At least the meeting was scheduled for noon, and he didn't have to show up to work before then. Maybe he could learn to tolerate the guy he was tasked with protecting if he had the basic decency to not wake others up at bumfuck in the morning. He grimaced when he thought of what the guy must look like, based on photos of the Don. He hoped the next few weeks would pass quickly.

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><p>Hayner watched smoke curl towards the ceiling with abject fascination as his lit cigarette hung loosely between his fingers. He did this too much, he thought, then wondered immediately after whether he was referring to his smoking or calling Roxas just to listen to him breathing on the other end. It was way past creepy but he still did it almost once a week these days. Naked from the waist up, smoking in the dark, listening to his best friend breathe quietly on his cell phone, in tailored suit pants that cost more than an average person makes in a year.<p>

"You wanna talk about it, Hayner?" The person on the other end questioned, his voice rough and thick with sleepiness and stress.

"'M sorry Roxas. So sorry."

He could hear the detective's deep, confused breaths as he tried to discern the reason for the apology. Hayner didn't know himself, didn't know if he was apologizing for dragging his friend into this mess, for demanding to listen to him like a stalker at four in the morning, or just for existing. The brown-eyed man just didn't understand half the shit that came out of his mouth anymore.

"It's okay Hayner, I know you are. You don't have to be, but you are. This guy, he's pretty much an asshole, but I think he'll treat you right. If he doesn't-"

"You know I'm not going to say something even if he tries to shoot me. If he treats me like shit, it's no worse than what I deserve," he replied, taking another drag off his cancer stick. He could practically hear Roxas swearing at him for his shitty attitude, even if the other never said a thing.

"It'll be over soon Hayner. It's gonna be okay. Seifer's an ass, but he's good at his job. He'll keep you safe. We can actually meet in daylight again. Kairi and Namine can find honest work. You can-"

"Die of a bullet in my brain, just the same as I will if I don't do a damn thing. Die like a dog with nothing left but a name I don't fucking want. You know what the papers will say, Roxas? 'Last of the Corneo crime family killed by vigilante'. People will be thankful for my murder. There's nothing…" He trailed off, not sure what else he could say that would ruin things further.

"Fucking hell, Hayner. Don't-You know you have a place with us. We're gonna get through this, and you can live with any one of us and never have to worry about a damn thing for the rest of your fucking life, okay?"

His breath hitched as he forced a whisper past a throat that was quickly squeezing shut, "I'm scared Roxas."

The upside of communicating through phone was that his closest friend couldn't see him crying silently sitting in the penthouse of the biggest hotel in the city, ashes falling, still smoldering, to the floor from the ignored cigarette. But Roxas probably knew he was regardless.

* * *

><p>"You're a dirty detective, looking for a quick in to the Mafia. You've got good information suggesting the department is after the Boss's son, Hayner, so you offer to protect him from them by following him around everywhere and claiming to be working your way in if questioned. We already have several scenarios set up to give your information some physical evidence. Meanwhile, Hayner starts snatching important documents and handing them over to us through you, blaming another member for the leak once they start to notice.<p>

"Once we've got enough to get a warrant, we make sure to find out when they'll be all together and bust their asses. Any crimes committed by Hayner himself will be swept under the rug."

Seifer still didn't like that last part, but he nodded anyways. It wasn't much to work with for now, but he assumed Hayner would cover for him until he got the gist of it. At least it'd be hard to blow his cover, all he had to do was play a particularly nasty version of what he really was. His guns felt heavy in the holsters on either side of his ribcage.

"So how will I know which car to get into?" He asked, watching Tseng in the reflection of the windshield.

"The one that's illegally parked in a handicap only spot. Tinted windows, black vehicle."

He couldn't resist rolling his eyes. Fantastic. The guy he'd be following around like a puppy was apparently the kind of person who had no problem parking in a handicap spot just to be a douche. The car stopped a block from the street he'd find his mark on and Seifer got out, glancing back at Tseng before shutting the door. He felt out of place in street clothes in the commercial district of Twilight Town with guns under his jacket. Even more so as he approached the mark's car. He didn't want to protect this guy, would rather put a bullet through his eye just for being related to the crime boss.

Either way, it was means toward an end they all wanted. He opened the back passenger-side door and slid in, just as instructed. A glance at the man stretched in his seat across from him told him more than anyone else's testimony that his preconceptions were probably pretty fucking skewed from reality. He looked nothing like his father, although the bio he'd read had told him that much the actual person was still a far cry from what he expected; short sandy blond hair curling into wavy spikes above his head, long legs leading up to a lithe frame his suit didn't bother to hide. He had his right arm up on the seat between them, a black gloved hand dangling idly, and his body was angled to lean in the corner between the seat and his door. Arrogant, cocksure, challenging, but the way he kept his legs to himself told Seifer he probably wasn't a complete asshole.

Large brown eyes searched him as he buckled his seat belt, and it hit him: It was an act. His eyes didn't match the rest of him, rather than cocky they just looked sad and maybe a little lost. This was the front he put on to fool everyone else into seeing exactly what they expected from someone in his position. Hayner's brow furrowed before he pulled a nondescript cell phone out of his pocket and appeared to send someone a short text before sliding it back. He looked young and insecure when he let his mask slip, but it was back before the other could really analyze it.

"So, Seifer, not going to shoot me right off the bat? Misconceptions are a bitch, aren't they?" The sneer in his voice was obvious, but he said the detective's name carefully, as if testing its weight on his tongue.

"Got an entire station of people who'd end me if I tried. And yeah, they pretty much are," he conceded as the car pulled out and onto the road.

"So we're going to dinner with the Don so I can introduce you tonight, but first we need to pick up your suit and show you where you'll be spending the next couple of weeks of your life. Keep that pretty mouth shut for the first few days unless I gesture with my left hand. If I signal with my right hand, it means stop talking. Once the boys are used to you, you can talk without me around to babysit, just try your best not to make an ass out of yourself any more than you already will."

"Suit? But you don't know my-"

"Tseng gave me your measurements. He had to estimate most of them, but he's never been wrong before," Hayner cut him off matter-of-factly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world for the lead detective to be able to guess his subordinate's inseam.

"How do you know him, or anyone at the station? Seems like half the Turks are members of your fan club."

The younger man's expression slammed shut and he twisted his body to look away, his left arm moving to rest across his stomach. Closed off, tense, irritated. Seifer couldn't figure out for the life of him why the other didn't want to talk about it, but he knew when not to press. Idly he noted that Hayner's left hand didn't have a glove on like his right, which was more than a little odd.

"When'd you join the academy?" The Don's son asked quietly, not making eye contact. The small talk didn't fit with his image any more than his eyes did and it was becoming increasingly obvious to the detective that he had no fucking clue who the person next to him was.

"When I was twenty, after my first two years of college. So three years ago. I joined the force shortly after, and I was moved up to detective after a year and a half. So I've been at it for about half a year."

"So who did my father's crime syndicate kill in your family? Parents, brother, sister, or…?" The brown-eyed blond queried with a nonchalance even more startling than the actual question.

"My parents. My father stole a document out of the pockets of one of the mid-level grunts and handed it over to the police, wanted the mob out of his city. You can guess where that went."

"They give you that scar?"

"Knife. I was eight, think they wanted to give me something to remember them by. How'd you know they killed someone in my family?"

Hayner flinched a bit at the mention of the age at which Seifer was orphaned, but otherwise stared straight ahead impassively.

"There's only one reason Tseng makes anyone a Turk. They've got to have a personal reason to want the Mafia taken down. They won't switch sides so long as they hold that grudge."

Seifer almost asked him why he wanted to do this, risk his life to take down his father's organization, the source of pretty much everything he had, but the blue-eyed detective guessed it would just cause him to shut down again. Besides, he honestly didn't care, so long as it was a good enough reason to keep him from betraying them. So he opted for what was hopefully a safer topic.

"So, you don't take after your old man at all."

The younger man snorted, "Gods, could you imagine? I take after my mother. Which is to say I look so far off from my father that he ordered a paternity test. Her family owed him a lot of money early on in his reign and she was essentially their way of paying off that debt. When I was five he was drunk and accused her of sleeping around on him because I didn't look anything like him, and shot her three times. I found her the next morning."

Well, fuck. How the hell does someone reply to that? He could just guess how the 'I'm sorry' bit would go over, Hayner feeling patronized and quite possibly losing any respect he might have for Seifer. He could attempt to brush it off with a 'childhoods suck', but that would hardly be appropriate.

"At least you've always got your memories of her, yeah? They may be tainted, but they're still there to hold onto."

Brown eyes focused on him and maintained their gaze, calculating. His expression slipped just enough to let his confusion show before the driver tapped three times on the tinted glass that separated his compartment from theirs and his attention was diverted.

"We've got three minutes until we arrive at my tailor. You're armed right? He'll expect that, so don't worry about it. He's probably going to touch you inappropriately, just ignore it. Guy gets too into his work to realize that feeling up someone's leg checking the inseam is not a socially acceptable thing to do. Marluxia doesn't mean anything by it."

"Fantastic. Just started this operation and already I'm going to get felt up by a stranger. You make one hell of a first impression, Hayner."

"I try. Oh, and just because it may not have occurred to you, never refer to me by my full name or last name. Ever. If we're in a formal setting, just call me Sir. Got it?"

"Got it. Not a name I'd like to answer to either."

"The only answer I give to that name is a fist. Even the boys know better now."

The car slowed to a halt as it angled to the left, Hayner getting out first and tapping twice on the driver's door before turning into the shop in front of them. They were parallel parked on the side of one of the main drags in and out of the commercial district. He walked around the car and followed his charge into the shop, immediately identifying all the exits (only the one behind them and maybe one in the backroom), potential threats (no one there but a man with pink hair tied back, dressed in a sharp suit), and cover (clothing racks and the back room).

"Marly, this is Seifer, my new bodyguard. I told you about him last week? Looks like you cleared the place out already, is everything set up?"

"Everything's ready in the back room, Sir."

Hayner nodded and gestured for the blond detective to follow the tailor into the back. He tensed warily but complied, wondering why the younger man wasn't coming with them, not wanting to leave him out of sight.

"He's armed and quite capable of defending himself for the ten or so minutes you'll be back here. Hayner had no one watching his ass before you and he's done fine. Well he did have two mob-appointed bodyguards, but he shot them before they could catch on to his plans. Just said they pissed him off and no one asked any further. Not like anyone cares what happens to a couple of hired goons," the pink-haired tailor rambled before shoving him into a spacious fitting room with wall-to-wall mirrors.

"I assume you know how to dress yourself, just come out when you're ready."

Of course he'd put on suits before, but nothing quite like this. He went about the motions removing his things and hanging them on the three unoccupied hooks on the door behind him. A hole had been cut into the mirror attached to the door to allow each hook to be screwed in. Two had the pieces of his suit. He felt oddly naked without his holster and guns, even before he actually removed his shirt and pants. Without the familiar weight it became even more clear that he was out of his element, had no idea what to expect from moment to moment.

As he put on the tailored and most likely ridiculously expensive suit, he pondered what Marluxia had said about their mutual employer shooting two men for getting too close. It stood to reason that the son of a crime lord would be violent and prone to murder, but it didn't fit with the man behind the mask from what he could see.

He knew firsthand what the eyes of a killer looked like, and Hayner's didn't fit the type. '_Innocent'_ his mind supplied, which was laughable. There were no innocent men in the mafia. Seifer opened the door and stepped out, not even having time to look for Marluxia before the man was grabbing him by the wrist and extending his arm.

"Looks like Tseng guessed spot on again. Superhuman, I'm telling you. Looks good in a suit too. Rufus likes spending too much on him," the tailor continued to ramble as he checked the fit of the suit. The detective assumed he talked mostly because he liked the sound of his own voice more than to be sociable. Judging by the time that had to go into feathering his hair like that and the flattering bordering on unprofessional cut of his suit, he was probably somewhat vain.

"There's no room for your holsters because the Don specifically has everyone checked at the door when he meets with anyone, even his own son. Paranoia comes with the territory I suppose. Everything fits right, so go ahead and change back into your street clothes and I'll meet you out front. The suit's being delivered to Hayner's suite later. Oh, and don't tell anyone that I know about our boy's schemes. I wasn't supposed to know, but I can see deception from a mile away, takes one to know one, right? I'd been planning the same thing for a while, just so happens his position allows him greater freedom."

"And what do you get out of the mob's downfall? Aren't they your biggest clients?" The blond replied carefully, reassessing the man next to him.

"Oh they are, but they often don't pay me for my services. Essentially I do half my work for free to avoid them taking out my kneecaps. It's not very profitable for me. And besides, who wants to be known best as the mob's bitch?"

There was an undercurrent of truth in the man's words, but he wasn't telling the whole story. He could hear where bits were skipped over, tiny tells where the voice wavered over something it wasn't supposed to say and moved on to the next. Nodding somewhat late, he turned back into the fitting room and shut the door behind him. It felt calming putting his shoulder holsters back on and he couldn't help sliding out the clip and rechecking it just to do it. He took a breath and walked back out to the front of the store.

His charge nodded in recognition, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked out of the store. Hayner's posture was angry, intimidating, and startling different from the relaxed way he carried himself earlier. Maybe someone had called him while Seifer was in the back.

"Everything alright, Sir?" The detective asked once they were situated in the car, feeling the way the honorific ground against his tongue. He didn't like referring to people younger than him as "Sir" even though he had to do so every day in his line of work.

"The car and my suite are places where you refer to me by my name assuming we don't have guests. And yes, everything is fine."

"Sure they are Hayner. Which is why you go from being relaxed to looking like a prowling wolf. Whatever, your business, not mine."

"You are not nosey enough for a detective, you know that?" The younger man spat back.

"I know how to tell where pressing for information is only going to get me punched."

"I wouldn't-I'm not going to hit you for something like that, Gods," he replied, scrubbing his face for a second before leaning his head on his hands, elbows on his knees. Deflated, tired, young. Seifer realized with a start that the file Tseng gave him put the sandy blond's age at nineteen and four months. _Fuck._ He always acted so much older than he was it was hard to remember, but regardless of mental maturity he was still the age of most kids fresh out of high school. A litany of '_This is so fucked up. What the fuck'_ echoed through his head as he felt a stress headache coming on. Why did he sign up for this job?

Oh that's right, he _didn't._

"So you live in a hotel? Any particular reason?" The detective changed the subject, entirely aware he was being about as subtle as a brick to the face.

"The Don's got his safe houses and that ugly-ass mansion in the woods on the market side of town, but I'm not a huge fan of people coming and going as they please. This way the only ones who get in are me or someone I've actually invited. Besides, I like the noise of the commercial district better than the ponderous lifestyle of the market district, you know?"

Noise being a euphemism for anonymity, Seifer guessed. So Hayner was private, disliked being involved with people in the mob or even talking with them, and didn't like his infamy. Probably kept his head down in crowds and pretended for a few hours in the push of the commercial district he was just a normal kid taking a couple years off college to get his life sorted out.

"You ever want to be anything? Like, career plans when you were a kid? I bet you wanted to be a fireman," the blue-eyed man asked quietly, wondering how he managed to fuck the whole operation up so badly he was already sympathizing with a guy who by all counts had murdered at least two men. The other man's teeth flashed in a smile and he leaned back in his seat though, so maybe it was worth it. He was just making his charge feel comfortable.

"Close, but no. If I told you, you'd just laugh. It was a stupid dream. How about you, always want to grow up to be a cop?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Wanted revenge, wanted to prevent that sort of shit from happening again. But seriously, what did you want to be? I swear I won't laugh. Scout's honor."

Hayner shook his head, "No way in hell you were ever a Boy Scout. Honestly?" He looked down at his hands shyly, "I wanted to be in law enforcement. A cop…or a detective. Stupid. Anything seems possible when you're a kid, you know?"

Meanwhile the older man was quietly freaking the fuck out, because there was '_no way this guy wanted to be a cop it's too normal and maybe a little bit cute in a horrible twisted way.' _Next chance he got, he was seriously just going to punch Tseng in the face for forcing this on him, '_for not rescuing this kid when he was like ten and maybe still thought he could dream'._

"It's not stupid. Everyone's allowed to dream. Just because it doesn't pan out doesn't mean you can't do something decent with your life, make yourself happy."

"Not everyone gets a happy ending, Seifer. Sometimes you just live like a dog and die like a dog. End of story."

"You are such a downer. I guess you don't have any plans for after this is all over?"

Hayner just looked at him once, shook his head, and laughed bitterly. It was clearly the end of the conversation, but it wasn't as tense as before. If he was going to pretty much live with this guy for the next few weeks it'd be nice if they were on decent terms. He enjoyed not being killed in his sleep.

They arrived at the hotel and took the elevator up, the younger man just leaning against the side near the doors silently. It wasn't terribly surprising no one followed them in, both blonds gave off a certain air of inapproachability. They got out at the fifth floor, the highest the elevator would go without a maintenance override.

"I told them to alter the programming so it would only go this high. In the event someone tries to break in, I'd much rather only have to worry about the stairs. Easier to pick them off as they come up, you know?"

"Makes good sense to me. Although, living here by yourself and forbidding anyone to visit must get pretty lonely, you sure you're not just pathologically aloof?"

"Wouldn't make a difference if I was, would it? I talk with Roxas, Pence and Olette on the phone sometimes up here. No one to check who I'm talking to. They're, ah, old friends I guess you could say. Two years older than me, but the age gap is hardly noticeable anymore. Haven't physically seen any of them for three years."

He was staring out of a string of four windows that spanned the height of the room on the far side of the center of the suite. The room itself was muted in its opulence, modern art rugs and couches in black and white, with green accents across the room. It generally worked well together, seemed much more cohesive than a bunch of Victorian pieces all vying for the spotlight.

"Did you decorate the place yourself?" Seifer asked, mentally kicking himself for the stupid question the moment it was out of his mouth. What the fuck did it matter if he had?

"Yeah, I did, like it?" The brown-eyed man answered, turning around to regard him oddly. They seemed to be surprising each other quite a lot.

"It suits you. I suppose I could put up with it for a few weeks, if I _had_ to."

A small twitch of Hayner's lips showed that he had understood the joke for the compliment it was, "Well good, since you will have to. Your side of the suite is on your left, I never use any of those rooms so trash the place if you really want to. Don't play loud music, don't fire any weapons unless there's a threat, and don't enter my room without knocking. If I tell you to go away, just shut up and do it, if I don't answer that also means you should go away because I'm probably sleeping. We clear on the rules?"

"And if the hotel is on fire and you're asleep? Should I just leave you here, or bring coffee to appease you?" The blond detective returned, and really, what the fuck, he was making witty banter like they were friends or something. He may have given up on hating this guy, but they were not going to be friends.

"If there's a fire, put it out and leave me alone. Problem solved. But seriously, never go into my room unannounced, I might accidentally shoot you and I really don't need a cop bleeding out on my floor."

"Got it. So, do you ever invite anyone up here? Like, for dinner or to stay the night?" He needed to know if and when he'd have to deal with outsiders in his area of operation.

"I don't…Whatever. Yeah, sometimes I bring two girls up here just to talk over dinner. Friends of mine. Non-identical twins before you even try to make that joke. They're ah…some of my father's acquisitions," he answered, breaking eye contact and roaming over to flop into one of the couches. He was embarrassed, fumbling for a way to relay the information without casting a harmful light on either party.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say your relationship with them is platonic, but no one else knows that."

"That's getting really creepy really fast by the way. But yeah. No one else touches them because they seem to think women are property and I own these two, and they usually end up being the only pleasant human contact I have regularly."

"Do you usually have a plan for when they come, or is it spur of the moment? I need to know with enough time to disappear."

"What do you mean? You're invited too, moron. Do you think I'd be sharing my home with you if I didn't think you were a decent enough person to spend time with? Besides, Tseng seems to like you enough to give you the job in the first place, so you can't be that much of a raging asshole."

Ice-colored eyes broke their contact with the speaker, quickly finding the floor as Seifer composed himself because _that_ was not something he was prepared for or even knew how to react to. Who the hell was this kid, and why did he feel the need to flip every notion the detective ever had about people in the mob on its fucking head? This job was going to kill him.

"Did you ever get that revenge you wanted, by the way?" Hayner asked quietly, dropping the subject like the prior conversation never happened.

"Yeah, I did. Not long after I joined the force, before I became a detective. Wasn't that hard, just paid a few people off, had someone pass on an invitation to them, shot them and left their bodies in an alley before dumping the gun somewhere else. Only Tseng ended up tracing their deaths back to me, it's why he promoted me a while after, made me a Turk. Never explained how he knew I'd done it though. Probably makes me a soulless bastard that I honestly don't feel bad for murdering two people."

"If you hadn't, I would have. Tseng asked me to track back through the records to find something about a man and woman being killed after a tip from the cops placed them as threats. After some searching I got their last name, Almasy, and found out who killed them. Passed the names onto Tseng. That's how he knew, he recognized the names. You were the only one with enough motivation to try something like that."

"So you knew about my parents before you ever asked me? Isn't that cheating?"

"It's called an icebreaker. Got you talking, didn't it?" The younger man quipped back before grabbing a pack of cigarettes off the small table next to him and pulling a lighter out of his left pocket. Seifer dropped into the couch opposite him, almost tempted to put his feet up on the glass table between them to see his host's reaction. Hayner lit his cigarette and took a pull from it before taking it away from his mouth and letting it dangle idly from his gloved fingers. The way blue smoke curled out of his slightly parted lips was…well, _distracting_.

"When'd you take up smoking?"

"About three years ago I think. When I first made contact with Tseng and we started clandestine meetings to cook up this plan of ours."

"When you stopped seeing Roxas, Pence and Olette in person regularly? Any coincidence there?"

"They were cops. Straight from high school to the academy, passed with flying colors, broke records, you know the story. A year later they were all Turks and completely unreachable. And yeah, maybe I took up smoking because of that too. Got a problem with it?"

"Just don't think someone your age should take up such a bad habit. And now you're going to tell me you do coke or something in your spare time, right?"

His charge's mouth twisted into a bitter, cruel smile before he spoke, "You're implying I'm not going to reach old age because I _smoke_? You know better than that, no one gets out of this life alive. And no, cocaine reminds me too much of being shuffled from one safe house to the other when I was younger. There are dealers in the mob, of course, so the higher-ranked members got free crack and partook far too often."

Fatalistic, extremely stressed, lonely. Probable situational depression, level of hopelessness making suicidal thoughts and tendencies likely. Successful suicide currently unlikely due to goal of completing the operation, lack of plans for future suggest planned suicide subsequent to operation. Seifer frowned as he stored his conclusions for later and pulled his phone out to text Tseng.

-_Sched suicide watch for H after op_-

"Every time you make that expression you say something that proves you've seen right through everything I said and found the things I didn't intend to say. I take it back, you are nosy enough to be a detective, you just internalize everything," the brown-eyed man mused, hunched forward to rest his left elbow on his knee, hand cradling his chin in a thoughtful way. He was trying to puzzle out the detective, figure out what made him tick; it was a familiar look.

A game of chess, he suddenly realized. It was like they were playing an invisible chess game, each observation a move, constantly outsmarting the other as they neared their goal of understanding the other completely, knowing exactly how to take the other down. It was dangerous and maybe a little pointless, but all the same it was the thrill of the challenge that spurred them both on. He doubted either of them would like what they found in the end.

"You do realize if we continue like this-" Hayner began carefully before being cut off by the other.

"Mutually assured destruction, I know. Do you want to stop?"

"Of course not. Most fun I've had in a long time."

"This is completely fucked up, you understand that, right?" The blue-eyed man added for good measure, had to make sure they were both on the same page.

"Have since you got into my car," the younger of the two was smirking now, taking one last pull of his cigarette before smashing it in the simple crystal ashtray next to him. This was too easy and both of them knew it. Whatever this was would go down in flames when it ended, but that was okay. Better to burn hot and fast than to never feel the touch of fire. Or maybe he was just a little self-destructive.

Seifer's pocket vibrated faintly and he pulled it back out of his pocket, wondering what Tseng _wasn't_ doing that would allow him to answer back so quickly. Or maybe this operation just took precedence over everything else.

-_Already have. Have you called a truce yet? I think you would enjoy working together if you could just stop trying to hate him.-_

The message was fairly typical of his Wutaian boss, his texts were always fully functional sentences with proper punctuation. He typed out something simple enough to do the job without forcing him to elaborate and hit send.

-_yes we have this is fucked up by the way-_

"The way you stop what you're doing to reply tells me that's either your boss or a very angry, very hot girlfriend," The sandy-blond man said conversationally, Seifer seeing the lure for what it was.

"I don't have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter," the older blond answered easily, eyeing the other for his reaction. Brown eyes flicked up from where he was lighting another cigarette, surprised, already calculating his next move. Maybe after the whole ordeal was over they could play actual chess, it would be _poetic_.

"Did Tseng ever tell you why I'm doing this? Or was that not something he thought you needed to know?"

A strange way of avoiding the obvious follow up questions about Seifer's sexuality, but it was probably important to something later on in Hayner's strategy. It was all means to an end.

"He didn't explain, and I don't ask questions unless it's important. Either you can tell me later or you'll just leave me wondering the rest of my life."

Something odd flashed on the younger man's face but it disappeared below his mask again before the other could pin it down. He was good at expressing only the emotions he wanted to, or that others wanted to see; it was only his eyes that couldn't keep up with the act, kept letting his true emotions bleed through.

"Are you planning on removing and relocating your loaded firearms any time soon, or should I continue to keep mine on my person as well to avoid appearing unguarded?"

His wording seemed to point to them being in that awkward place the conversation seemed to go after Seifer said something Hayner didn't want to think about. It also mentioned the other man being armed currently, which was news to the detective. His jacket was too tight around the torso for there to be holsters there, so the next most logical place to keep two firearms was tucked into the waistband of his pants. He didn't move like they bothered him, or even like he knew they were there, implying that he'd worn them there every day for at least half a year.

"Sorry, I forget I have them on. Have trouble leaving the job behind," he answered with false sheepishness, pulling his twin .45 caliber pistols from where they were hidden against his ribcage. He checked the safety before setting them on the table in front of them, feeling oddly like this was some sort of peace offering. Hayner followed in kind, reaching behind him and pulling out a .45 and a .9, the smaller caliber pistol correlating to his ungloved left hand. His still-lit cigarette dangled loosely from his lips, the smoke curling lazily from it just barely failing to obscure the brown eyes staring straight into Seifer's.

"Why do you have two different caliber guns, and why do you only wear one glove?" The older of the two asked, knowing the questions were related, but lacking answers for either.

"You're the detective, figure it out yourself," Hayner snapped, cigarette bobbing a bit as he spoke around it, setting his guns down on the table across from the two other firearms. It seemed almost random the way he refused to answer certain things and had no trouble talking about others but the scarred blond knew better, there was some thread connecting all of them. He just had to find it.

"What time are we meeting the Don tonight?"

"Seven fifteen. In his favorite restaurant, it's ground level, large windows, on one of the main drags of the commercial sector. Completely indefensible, and he always reserves the whole place, sits at the table in the center in full view of the street."

"So essentially the worst place possible? He's counting on his name alone being able to scare away anyone else."

"And we won't be armed. There will be two guards posted at the entrance with firearms, but they could easily be picked off before they could do anything. It's stupid and cocky and he's going to get killed for it one of these days. Not soon enough if you ask me, but I'd rather neither of us be there when they open fire."

"Is there any reason someone would decide to try and pick him off tonight more than any other night?"

Hayner took another drag off his dwindling cigarette before saying, "The Don mentioned something about a deal that locked one of the smaller crime lords out of his coke supply. So yeah, there's that. Not like anyone needs a special reason. There's not a person in this city that doesn't want to put lead between his eyes."

The nineteen year-old's cell phone rang quietly in his pocket, his eyebrows drawing down furiously when he read the number.

"I've got to take this in my room, I trust you can entertain yourself while I'm gone."

His demeanor had changed again, cold, hard and cruel. It was more than mood swings, he seemed to be switching between two different personas. One dealt with his father and the family business, the other was the carefully masked, terrified, thoughtful Hayner he'd been talking to up until now. The level of cognitive dissonance the man was experiencing was probably altering his mental stability and sense of self to a fairly severe degree.

Seifer absently texted Fuujin to see how her current assignment was going, then quietly moved to look out at the city from one of its highest points. From here the world seemed distant; just silent, meaningless movement within a confined area. No wonder Hayner probably liked to wander the streets, if this is all he saw day in and day out.

* * *

><p>"What the fuck do you want?" Hayner spat into his phone, glancing at the door to his room to make sure it was shut for about the third time.<p>

"Temper, temper, kiddo. If you're going to employ me behind your father's back, you'd best treat me well, otherwise I could just run to daddy with your little schemes. We both know he'd have no problems ordering us to kill you. Probably want us to do it slowly and let him watch, he's a sick fuck, isn't he?"

The blond silently ground his teeth before answering, "Pleasant as always, Xigbar. What did you call me for? Unless you honestly bothered me just to remind me how I'm fucked six ways to Christmas."

"Nah, you do a good enough job worrying about that without out my help. Just called to say me and my boys are ready for tonight. You're really sure about the plan, right? I could-"

"Do things exactly as planned, Xigbar. I'm counting on it. You're the best shot in this damn town, I'm trusting you to be able to pull this off."

"No, you're paying me to be able to pull this off. I won't miss. I want out as much as you, kiddo. If it's for my freedom I won't fuck it up."

"Just be careful, don't hit Seifer. Not even a graze."

"Kid, I can shoot a playing card in half down the edge from twenty paces, I do know how to aim. I won't hurt your new boyfriend."

"He's not-" The brown-eyed blond choked a bit on the words and couldn't quite get them out around the lump of fear in his throat.

"I was kidding, lighten up a bit. See you tonight kiddo, I expect the payment wired to my account by midnight."

"I've got it taken care of. Goodbye, Xigbar."

He snapped the phone shut and sank down onto his bed, holding his head in his hands. Breathing carefully to collect himself, he counted to thirty. Much longer and the other occupant of the suite would start to get suspicious. He got up on steady legs and walked back out, tucking his phone back into his pocket after erasing all history of the call.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled as he sat back down on the couch, definitely not mentally storing the image of Seifer's face staring in fascination at the city below from the window. There was just a split second of unguarded expression before the detective noticed he wasn't alone, but in that time he looked…younger, less burdened. His shoulders didn't sag from the weight of his duties and memories like they did now.

"I'm not going to stop you from doing your work, even if I don't think living two lives is good for you. You don't need to apologize, it's not like I'm a guest, this is a job and we have roles to play."

"And we dance like marionettes until they cut our strings," the younger said bitterly, more to himself than anything else.

"I don't think any puppeteers are fucked up enough to come up with this on their own."

Awesome, so apparently the detective also had excellent hearing, either that or he could read lips.

"I think you'd be surprised."

Which, yeah that didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense outside of his own head and now the blue-eyed man was giving him a strange look. He just shrugged and pretended like it was a completely normal thing to say before flopping back down on the couch. They had two hours to kill yet before they even needed to think about getting ready and he wasn't quite sure what to suggest. He could just leave the other man to his own devices and meander about the city for a bit, but that seemed rude and Seifer would probably follow him anyways. So instead he lit another cigarette and waited for the scarred man to break the silence first.

"How did you meet Roxas, Pence and Olette? It seems odd that you'd not only cross paths with all of them, but become close friends," the detective asked, still staring out the window.

"Before Corneo hit the top of the food chain I used to just wander the streets alone in the afternoons, sometimes they'd come by after school. Eventually they got up the courage to ask me why I didn't attend school and why I was in such a dangerous place by myself. I was twelve I think, they were all in high school. I guess I was kind of frightened, I wasn't used to people asking questions, so I ran. Roxas…" Hayner paused to laugh at the memory, still fresh after all these years, "Took after me and tackled me to the ground, demanded to know where my parents were. Instead of abandoning me right then and there when he heard who my father was, he took me to his house and fed me cookies.

"We've been pretty close ever since, until their careers forced us apart. It's part of why they became Turks. They just…want me to live my life in peace."

Seriously, why was he just spilling his life story to this guy at the drop of a hat? Seifer was learning what he could and couldn't ask far quicker than anyone else had, and he honestly seemed to care about the answer. Even if this was a game, those ice-colored eyes warmed a bit when he laughed, and he was sure he didn't imagine it. There was some spark of interest there, if he were to be optimistic he'd call it the beginnings of friendship, or at least a friendly working relationship.

He took a heavy drag of his cigarette and let his head loll back against the back of the couch while he blew the smoke back out, watching it curl towards the ceiling. This was way more fucked up than he expected it to be, and that was really saying something.

"How long do you plan on just staring out the windows? It's going to get old in an hour or so, trust me."

"So what do you do when you're not staring aimlessly out the windows, then?"

He couldn't help it, his lips curled upward at the edges just a bit. He checked his watch just to make sure, but he knew they had time. Telling his companion he'd be a few minutes, he retreated back into his room and quickly changed into a simple pair of jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers with rainbow laces, and a dark hoodie. He stuffed his cigarettes and lighter into his right front pants pocket and reemerged, sans one gun and his glove. The remaining gun was tucked securely into his waistband under his hoodie.

Seifer seemed confused but snatched and stowed his firearms and followed Hayner out the door obediently regardless, if after raising one eyebrow questioningly at his rainbow shoelaces. He hardly felt the need to justify his footwear though, so he just shrugged before taking the stairs down. With practiced ease he jumped over the railings onto the flight below until he was on the ground floor, his companion following in kind with a little less accuracy but enough grace to make up for it.

It was something he noticed in the back of his mind, the detective was more heavily muscled than most of the other Turks, yet moved with the same sort of savage grace of a predator. Like a wolf, he supposed; made of solid, compact muscle that was easily maneuverable despite its weight. He was carefully _not_ thinking about what that body would feel like pinning him to a wall because that would be _unprofessional._

Once they reached the ground floor he opened the maintenance exit to the back alley and flipped his hood up. It wasn't cold, Twilight Town having a more moderate climate and it being early spring, but he'd rather not be recognized or approached. He stayed mostly to the alleyways, moving quickly towards his destination as he lit a cigarette. The shadow on his heels made the trip a bit different from normal, but the other man's presence wasn't overbearing.

"Hayner! Why'd you bring a cop?" Shouted a familiar voice from above, and the addressed looked up to find the two teens he'd been looking for sitting up on the third landing of the fire escape.

"He's off-duty, don't worry about it. My new shadow. You two gonna get down here? I've got an hour to kill and you mentioned something about working with a pirate? You never pick up your damn phone, Vaan."

The platinum blond boy laughed before jumping down from his perch, followed by his ever-present companion, Kytes. Penelo was probably off working an honest job while they both dabbled in the less-than-legal areas of trade. Which he supposed he really couldn't judge them too harshly for, considering.

"So does he have a name, or should I just make one up?"

"Last time you just chose a name for someone they ended up shooting at you out of annoyance, I really don't think that's a good idea. This is Seifer, Seifer this is Vaan and Kytes. Friends of mine," he ended with an obvious statement, but he was too busy studying the scarred man's facial expression, or rather lack thereof, to really come up with something intelligent.

The detective simply looked between the two strangers and nodded once, giving them a small smirk. Reassuring them he wasn't about to report them. He probably wouldn't even if he was on regular duty.

"So what kind of piracy do you deal with? Magic artifact trafficking?"

Vaan blinked quickly in disbelief before answering cautiously, "Yeah, actually. How did you know?"

"Mana has a certain smell to it, it's very distinctive. Magicite and materia leave heavy traces behind. You should be a bit more careful. Use something to cover it up, or the wrong person is going to figure you out as soon as they get close enough. Do you have a particular client you're working for?"

"Why should I tell you?" The smoky-eyed blond bit back, not liking how quickly Seifer had gotten the upper hand.

"Because I probably know them already. I used to do the same thing for a while. A long time ago. Your primary materia buyer is probably a guy by the name of Cloud, right? Looking specifically for a black materia and high level summons? And for any information regarding a guy named Zack Fair."

Hayner had to try hard to keep from laughing at the expression on Vaan's face. Some cross between bewilderment and respect that just looked beyond comical. Though he did wonder at what point in Seifer's life the detective dabbled in black market dealings.

"Did you work for Cloud then?" Kytes asked, finally speaking up.

"Him? No, this was several years ago, before he even showed up. He contacted me through my boss, Tseng, asked if I could keep an eye out on my busts. I specialize in that area on the job. Tseng owes him for some things that happened in the past, so he never gets touched, even if everyone knows he's buying underground."

"You ever hear anything about that guy he's looking for?" Vaan asked, apparently over his shock.

"Zack? All I know is that he was in a special black-ops unit employed by Rufus's father, one of the last remaining top-ranked members of it, and supposedly died on the outskirts of another city. Cloud was on some pretty serious shit when it happened, doesn't remember things clearly. The body was never found, and while a normal person would assume that some wild animals dragged it off, Cloud isn't among that classification and hopes to find him alive somewhere."

"Were they friends or something? Why would he care that much?" Kytes asked, crossing his hands over his chest and tipping his head to the side. He choreographed his thoughts too easily, it was always plain as day what was going on inside his head. He'd learn soon enough, though Hayner would rather he never have to.

"Or something. They were lovers," the blue-eyed detective returned with finality, the statement pretty much summing the whole situation up quite neatly.

Kytes was the only one who seemed remotely fazed by the news, Vaan had probably already guessed as much. Judging by the faint bruise on his neck, he was involved in more than just business with the man he was now working for. Not the best idea, but then he didn't know anything about the situation or the man himself, and the blond thief could take care of himself.

"Well, either way he pays better than everyone else, and I haven't heard about any Bahamuts terrorizing nearby cities so I guess he can't be all that bad. Most people with the amount of materia he has would be tearing the place up by now," Vaan said while putting his hands behind his head in his classic 'I don't give a fuck' gesture.

"He's keeping it out of the hands of those sorts of people. But he's also a high-level mercenary, so he uses them on the job. All things considered, he's a good guy, if a little bit fucked in the head."

Of course, everyone who lived in or near Twilight Town was just a little bit certifiably nuts. Everyone else chose to get as far away as possible. He flicked his cigarette butt into the nearest trash can.

"So, your new boss, what's the name he gave you?" Hayner started back on the original topic of the conversation.

"Balthier. Has a Viera partner named Fran, kind of cold."

"How'd you get those two to take on an apprentice? They're classically a duo, never heard of them even considering it," the oldest man interjected, showing genuine interest. Hayner was rather pleased with how the trip had turned out, it revealed a lot about the guy he'd have to live with. The detective was much more involved in the dark underbelly of the city he worked in than the brown-eyed blond had originally guessed.

"I may have stolen a one of a kind chunk of magicite from a collector's home…The same target they were after. I made off with it, eventually they caught up with me and made me a deal. An apprenticeship for the magicite. So far they haven't killed me, so I guess I'm doing okay. They seem to like having an extra person to run jobs."

"You're going to get yourself killed one of these days."

He'd have to contact the pirates his friend was working with and threaten them, just to make sure it wouldn't be by their hands he ended up in pieces in a gutter. What are friends for, if not sending criminals death threats?

"Kept anything for yourself so far?" Seifer asked the thief, curiosity betrayed by the cant of his lips.

"Promise you won't arrest me?" The platinum blond returned, smirk firmly in place before pulling a small, dark red materia and a glowing blue stone Hayner didn't recognize. The scarred detective held out his hands, expression carefully blank. Vaan studied him a moment before handing the artifacts over, eyes remaining wary.

"Bahamut ZERO, and a shard of nethicite. This shard is real, isn't it? Where the fuck did you find this?" He asked as he handed the items back over.

"Can't tell you that. It's the only one I've gotten so far though, if it makes you feel better."

"Not bad though. Try not to get in too deep. Sooner or later the life's gonna come back to bite you."

Vaan's eyes glittered with the invincibility of youth, he'd remember the advice, but probably never heed it. But that was just the way he was. It was kind of endearing.

"So how about you Hayner? What are you doing that's so bad you've got a cop following you around?"

He simply lit a cigarette and smirked, "Can't tell you that, you know better."

"You're never any fun, Hayner," Kytes said, just a hint of a whine entering his voice.

"Don't like to talk business when I'm on the streets, same way you don't like to talk about the streets when you're working."

"Any plans tonight?" Vaan asked, eyes flicking between him and Seifer rather suggestively. Hayner couldn't keep his eyes from rolling at the implication.

"Just meeting the Don for dinner. Not sure what to do after that. Why?"

"Nothing much. Just wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk," the grey-eyed teen returned, to his credit managing to keep emphasis off the last word. The sandy-haired man knew exactly what he meant without him adding verbal air quotes as he was so oft inclined to do. Then again, he was only seventeen, people his age tended to do that sort of thing, didn't they?

"Might. I'll call you if so."

If he did go out tonight it would be alone, he'd have to sneak past Seifer and would have to weigh whether he wanted to face the hell that would await him on his return. There's no way he could be out for hours in the middle of the night without the detective using his Turk-senses and realizing the suite was missing one occupant.

He checked his watch, realizing their conversation had taken a good half an hour beyond the time it took to get here. If they wanted to be ready they'd have to leave fairly soon. Taking a long drag of his cigarette he noted he'd have to get another pack to last the night with his father. Hopefully the Don wouldn't notice he'd started smoking three times as much as he used to. Fucking hell.

"We should leave soon if we're going to have time to change and get ready, Hayner," the older blond said suddenly, and he should really quit that habit of _reading Hayner's fucking mind._

"Seifer, can I talk to Hayner alone for a moment?" Vaan said suddenly, eyes widening slightly as he remembered something. After a second's hesitation the older man nodded and started walking back through the alley towards their hotel, quickly disappearing around a corner. Where he was most likely lying in wait, just in case. Had to be interesting being paid to stalk people.

Once he was sure the detective was gone, the thief turned back to Hayner and produced a necklace. Nothing special really, just a stone secured on a simple black cord. A second glance noted that the stone, while small and seemingly insignificant, was changing colors seemingly at random, running the entire spectrum.

"Magic?"

"Yeah. Just…wear it all the time from now on, okay? I don't know what the fuck you've got going on in that head of yours, but you're always saving everyone but yourself. I know whatever plan you have doesn't involve protecting yourself, maybe this will help. Despite what you think, there are people who will miss you if you die."

Which didn't explain at all what the pendant was supposed to do, but Vaan would never do anything to hurt his friends. They were all he had now. Wordlessly Hayner put the necklace on and tucked it under his shirt and hoodie, the weight of it settling heavily on his sternum. He nodded and started to walk away when both boys pulled him into a tight hug. Wrapping his arms around both of them, he felt oddly like he didn't belong. Like he'd stolen someone else's place in their embrace. Every time someone touched him it was the same, it felt like the contact was for someone else. '_Someone deserving',_ his mind supplied helpfully.

It was a normal feeling, not belonging anywhere. He didn't have a home, didn't have anyone to really call his anymore, only had one or two possessions he actually had a right to own. Sometimes he wondered if he existed at all. The arms around him eventually withdrew and he smiled and said something of no import before leaving at a jog. He didn't know why, but he just wanted out of there as quickly as possible.

Seifer appeared out of fucking nowhere and kept pace easily, eyeing the other calculatingly but not asking questions. The brown-eyed man wouldn't have answered them anyway. Not right now. They made it back to the hotel quickly, entering through the front and using the elevator, Hayner feeling too lazy to climb so many flights of stairs. They entered the suite quietly, the silence only broken when the younger man spoke up to say that the detective's suit should be waiting for him on his bed.

"Do you know who you are, Hayner?"

He halted his escape to his bedroom to turn towards the speaker, because there was no way he could run from that kind of question. What the hell was he talking about?

"Of course I do, my name is Hayner Corneo and I'm the son of-"

"Not that, idiot. I mean, _do you know who you are?_"

His heart sank and a feeling that was a cross between having his insides frozen and being hit in the face with a brick settled across him. There was no fucking way he was having this conversation, ever.

"I'm no one, and I'd rather keep it that way."

He immediately crossed the remaining distance to his section of the suite and made a beeline for his bedroom, slamming the door with a little more force than he intended. The truth was, he had no idea who he was anymore. Was he really just the son of an evil man who murdered people in cold blood to protect himself? Or was he a man who helped others get out of the life he was forced to live? Or just some nineteen year-old with no hopes or dreams or future. He grabbed the first thing he could reach, an ash tray, and flung it towards the nearest wall. The clear glass object shattered loudly and brought him back to reality. And now Seifer probably thought he had major anger issues as well as showing a tendency toward spouting nonsense.

He slumped on his bed and closed his eyes, breathed out, and shut off. In the real world he went through the motions of getting ready for the dinner, but he was far off in his head, trying to get so deep he wouldn't wake back up. Or maybe woke up as someone else. He just wanted this whole thing to be over.

A tap on his door alerted him that he'd taken his time getting ready and he tucked his hair into his fedora hurriedly before throwing the door open without warning. At which point both he and Seifer just stood there and stared like they'd never seen each other before. It should have been incredibly awkward, but he was too busy noticing how well the suit fit the detective to really pay attention to anything else. He looked professional, but the clothing fit a little tighter than was absolutely necessary, most likely because Marluxia wanted to _kill him._ He knew the man with ice-colored eyes was well built, but his current attire threw that into sharp relief, making it impossible to ignore.

"Like the hat," the older man spoke finally with a sharp curve of his lip that could have been a smirk but felt a little more predatory. Hayner choked on his laughter, because there was no way Seifer had intended that as anything but an icebreaker, even if he meant it.

"Let's get going. Remember, don't say a word unless I signal that it's okay to talk. I'll speak for you most of the night."

"Just make sure I don't say anything stupid," he returned, humor in his voice. The younger man knew he was being uncharacteristically nice to try to calm him down after his last outburst, maybe as some sort of fucked up apology. He wasn't sure he liked it, but then he wasn't sure he hated it either. It wasn't patronizing, at the very least.

"I'll try my best, but you have to admit, it's kind of hard to sell you as the genius you think you are."

"I'm sure you can manage."

"You are such an ass."

"And you are such a bitch about it. It's almost endearing."

"I am going to kill Tseng for assigning you to this."

"I'm pretty sure he's actually immortal, so good luck with that. If you succeeded Rufus would hire Cloud to kill you. And I'd be out of a job."

Hayner lit a cigarette, wondering why their banter could be so easy yet so stilted, like they every word they said was meant to be something else, but they couldn't say it. It niggled at the back of his mind, but he couldn't pin it down.

"Is there anything about the Don you even remotely like or approve of? Just out of curiosity, is he one of those people who kill people for fun but then go home and cuddle with their twenty cats?"

"You have been watching way too many movies. And, no, he doesn't have any pets. I guess the only decent thing he ever did in his life was marry my mother. He fucked even that up though."

They were in the car now, the darkness outside enhanced by the tinted windows so the city lights looked like giant, dim stars against a sea of black. Beauty as fake as the world they lit, as fake as him.

* * *

><p>Seifer quietly sat next to his companion while they rode to their destination, measuring his increasingly depressed mood by how low his eyelashes drooped over his large eyes. He was slowly, methodically shutting himself down. It was downright creepy how practiced he was at it, not something he'd expect from someone so young outside of heavy abuse cases. He didn't bother speaking to try and pull him out of it, his defense mechanisms were the only things keeping his psyche together, the detective wouldn't deny him whatever he needed to survive.<p>

Though somehow watching the process made him…sad. It was like watching a plane crash in slow motion and realizing all those people had families. Hayner wasn't just means to an end, he was a person who'd had everything taken from him since he could remember. All the material wealth in the world couldn't change that he had no choices in his life, none that he could make to help himself. So he helped others, everyone he could reach.

_Reno slipped into Seifer's office while the younger man was finishing his paperwork before moving on to read Hayner's file, something heavy in his green-blue eyes. _

"_What the fuck do you want? I actually have work to do, if you hadn't noticed," the blond spat with a single glance upward before going back to filling out the form below him._

"_I used to be involved with the mob, yo. I was an addict, was the easiest way to get my fix, just join up with the people who supplied me."_

_Now he was paying attention, cold eyes drifting up to look the redhead in the face. This was going somewhere, and he had a sinking feeling it was dealing with the whole 'Hayner saved all our asses' bullshit the group had been spouting. _

"_I got in too deep, obviously. I nearly killed Axel one night while I was coming off of cocaine and about to shoot up again. Thought he was going to stop me, shot him in the chest. Fucking shot my own goddamn fifteen year-old little brother. Missed his heart by four inches."_

_Why had Seifer known absolute nothing about this beforehand? You'd think the whole 'hey buddy, I'm an ex-addict and I almost killed my brother while high' conversation would have come along sooner if it was going to come at all. _

"_Hayner was ten or something, swear on my grave one day on the job he just walked right up to me while I was about to take a hit and punched me in the face, told me to go back home and never come back. Said I had no place in the family any more, and if I showed up on their doorstep again they'd shoot me. He was kind of a grown up kid, yo."_

"_So, what, he basically threw you out on the street?"_

"_Right on my ass. Gave me a letter that supposedly had my earnings for the people I'd taken out that week in it, actually had the name of a guy who ran a rehab center. Put me through the fucking ringer, and I thought I was gonna die. But I put my baby brother in a hospital, yo, I figured I deserved it. Tseng snatched me up as soon as I came out clean. Been working my ass off to make up for all the terrible shit I've done in my life ever since. That Hayner kid saved my life. If he hadn't thrown me out, I'd either be filling my blood full of drugs or dead by now."_

_Reno gave him a look before turning and waltzing right back out the door in his typical fashion. Seifer looked down at the pen in his hand, then at the file on Hayner that was peeking out on the edge of his desk. A photo of him when he was eight was paper clipped to the manilla folder, completely nondescript, but it was easily the most important thing on his desk. More than the seizure forms he was filling out, more than the firaga materia that he raised and kept for himself during the days of his youth that he used as a paperweight now, more than his badge._

_Hayner did that for Reno nine years ago though. He got older, and probably gave up on the hero act. Right? He wasn't a good person, he _couldn't_ be. Of course, that didn't explain why the others loved him so damn much, but that wasn't his problem. Resisting the urge to just scribble nonsense on the form in frustration, he went back to work. _

"Hey, Seifer, you still awake? We're here, and at some point we have to go inside."

Hayner's gloved hands waved in front of his eyes for a second after he spoke, impatience riddled with anxiety coloring his voice and movements. The detective simply nodded, not bothering to pretend he hadn't completely zoned out. He got lost in his own head too easily sometimes.

"Are you ready?" Seifer asked simply, hand already on the door handle.

"I'm never going to be ready, so we may as well just go. Don't want to keep the Don waiting."

They got out of the car and entered the restaurant quietly, the younger man tenser than the other had ever seen him. The black fedora was pulled low over his head, shadowing his eyes, but even with that he could still see the cold fear gripping him. Seifer kept his expression carefully neutral, managing to not attempt to kill the Don with his eyes when he sat down at the table next to Hayner.

"When you said you were bringing a guest, I didn't think you meant a cop," the Don began with a glare from behind his darkly tinted glasses.

"He's dirty anyway. The station's moving in on me for some reason, from his information. Saw someone tailing me today, so maybe he's right. Said he'd keep the pigs off my back so long as I paid him more than he currently makes to just stand around and look tough. So why the fuck not."

Hayner immediately lit a cigarette after finishing speaking; surprisingly his hands weren't even shaking. The Don appeared to consider the information, then leaned back slightly in his seat as if satisfied.

"So, Cop, why is the force suddenly so interested in him?" Corneo's lip curled as he spat what was apparently his new name for Seifer.

"Want to try and take him in for questioning on your operation here. I don't see how it's really going to help, but they are cops after all."

Corneo laughed then, cruel and mirthless, "The best and brightest, yet for over a decade they haven't been able to catch me."

"It is impressive what the law can't do. Like give me a decent paycheck," Seifer joked, mentally grinding his teeth. The Don laughed again, though, so it was working.

"Well so long as you can do your job well enough, I guess the boy here can take care of that for you."

He was glad he kept his hands under the table, they were twitching with the need to wring the fucking life from his man. Who the hell referred to their only son as 'the boy'? The waiter crept up hesitantly to take their order, and Hayner's gloved hand suddenly settling on his left thigh told him quite concisely that he was not to speak. The younger man said something in clipped Italian, fitting for the place but not necessarily for the person speaking, since the mob family was definitely _not_ Italian. The waiter blinked at first, then a knowing smile cracked on his face as he responded in the same language. Corneo seemed genuinely put out by being left out of the conversation.

"I'll have that spaghetti of yours, you know the way I like it. Wine too, very dry."

The hand remained settled on his thigh, though whether he was just not supposed to say anything for now or Hayner had somehow forgotten was up for debate. It wasn't an awkward touch though, at the very least. It was grounding, the only remotely familiar thing in the setting was the man next to him, the contact reminded him he wasn't the only one inwardly cringing every time he had to speak.

"So, boy, how are things with those broads? You gonna get either one of them pregnant any time soon?"

The hand twitched tellingly before stilling again.

"Not right now, no. Not quite ready to hand over the name."

"You always were a selfish little brat," Corneo laughed, though what he found funny was a mystery to the sane members of his audience.

Minutes passed before the Don started complaining about the wine not being there. A quick look around pointed out that there was no one else around. Hayner seemed to notice this at the same time, dark eyes searching then the hand on his thigh squeezing then pulling away. Two gunshots echoed and the guards collapsed outside as two men clad entirely in black slid into the shop. More gunshots fired, a few whizzed past him as he reflexively tackled Hayner to the floor, attempting to shield him bodily. The lack of a weapon literally ached, but as soon as it started the barrage stopped and the men disappeared into the night.

Movement below him brought him back from his adrenaline rush enough to realize he still had his charge pinned below him, eyes like washed out chocolate staring straight into his questioningly, surprised. Whether he was surprised that Seifer specifically protected him, or that anyone would was anyone's guess, but it was still depressing either way. He rolled off and helped the younger man back to his feet, surveying the carnage in the restaurant.

The waiter and the owner peeked out from the kitchen, the former shouting something to Hayner in Italian. The younger blond answered in the same with a tiny smile, waving them off. Corneo looked like he was about to explode from anger, bursting into angry words that blended together and that the detective honestly didn't care about. He was a lot more interested in a small tear in the side of Hayner's suit coat, frayed ends of white shirt beneath showing. It could have been ripped sometime when they hit the floor, but the material really should have been stronger.

"Don, Seifer and I are going to try and track those guys down, at least see if we can identify who they're affiliated with," the sandy-haired man said by way of explanation before grabbing the detective's wrist and bolting out the door. They ran a few blocks and ducked into an alley, the other bent over, hands on his knees, laughing his ass off.

"You didn't give that waiter our order, did you?"

"Nope, told him to hide. I had a bad feeling something like this would happen. The look on the Don's face though…" He trailed off into laughter, though the rest of his words rang with an air of half-truths, like he was testing a lie on his tongue to see if it sounded true outside of his mind.

"Did you get hit? Your suit is ripped."

He looked down, then pulled the coat to the side until he found the tear.

"Guess it got caught on something when you pushed me over. Probably the table, glass and all. Uh, thanks for that, by the way."

He thought 'it's just my job, don't worry about it', but what came out was, "No problem, just trying to keep you safe."

Stupid goddamn mouth not listening to what he wanted it to say. The words were embarrassing enough that he kind of wanted to just kick himself, but judging by the tiny hopeful look Hayner gave him they were the right ones. And maybe he did care about the kid, just a little bit. He didn't have anyone else in reach to take care of him, so obviously the job fell to Seifer.

"Let's get back to the car and go back to the hotel. I'm tired. Hey, look at it this way, at least we didn't have to put up with the Don for any longer, right?"

He couldn't help but break a smile at that, because he was right. Getting shot at was definitely preferable to another minute with that scumbag. They headed back to the street and found the car waiting for them. They slid in, Hayner on the far side, sitting sideways but facing away this time. One hand rested heavily over the rip in his suit, it almost looked like he was applying pressure. Too easy to read, he was distracted by it enough to slip up.

The detective waited a few minutes for the other to be lulled by the quiet before unbuckling his seatbelt, moving over and pinning the younger blond to the door with one hand.

"What the-" The rest of the sentence ended in a pained hiss as Seifer applied pressure to his right side where the tear was. It was already sticky with blood.

"So, were you planning on just letting yourself bleed once we got back, or are you really capable of giving yourself stitches and bandaging yourself up?"

"Fuck. You." The brown-eyed man bit out harshly through gritted teeth, pushing the offending hand away.

"Let's get one thing straight, can we? I'm here to protect you. I'm doing my damndest to keep you breathing, the least you can do is tell me when you're injured. I don't care if you so much as trip and bruise your knee, I want to know about it immediately. Got it? I know you hate asking anyone for help, but I'm right here and I've honestly got _nothing better to do._ Do you understand?"

"Fine, I get it. Just get off me, okay? We'll take care of it when we get back to the hotel."

"You never use the word home, you live there, don't you? Why not call it home?"

"I don't have a home. That's just where I stay, it's not a home to me."

"You have a home with Roxas, Pence, and Olette. Home isn't always just a place."

"What the fuck do you know, anyway," the younger spat, eyes dark with confused anger.

"I didn't have a place to call home when I was growing up an orphan. But I found a home with Raijin and Fuujin. With the force and with the Turks. I have a home, and you do too. You just don't want to accept it for what it is."

A look of guilt settled on Hayner's face, maybe for forgetting that Seifer didn't grow up like a normal kid, maybe for ignoring what he had, maybe for this whole damn situation. He sighed and deflated, leaning back against the door where he was pushed as the detective moved back to his side of the car. Tired and hurt and pale, he looked as young and vulnerable as he was.

"Am I a burden, Seifer?"

"You'll never be a burden to anyone who matters, Hayner. Don't let anyone tell you differently."

"Weren't you supposed to hate me? You're being too nice. You don't have to."

"I don't like to do what I'm supposed to. I hate anyone related to the name Corneo. You? You're just Hayner."

The other's smile spread wide and true on his face for the first time since they'd met. Bleeding out in a car going to a place he couldn't call home with a stranger who might hate him, but he looked happy. The ride ended far too soon and the mask fell back into place. He stumbled shortly after they got into the lobby, prompting the larger man to just scoop him up and carry him to the elevator. Despite his rather raucous protests, they made it all the way to the suite without incident.

"Please tell me you have a first aid kit?"

"Bathroom, my side. Well, and yours, but it just makes more sense to use mine. Should be everything you need in it, now would you kindly put me the fuck down?"

Seifer ignored him and carried him through to his bedroom, then to the bathroom, dumping him on the rug without warning. He squeaked indignantly when he landed, before pulling himself up to sit on the toilet, pointing to the kit hanging on the wall next to the medicine cabinet over the sink before starting to pull off his coat and shirt. He flung his hat into the tub carelessly before yanking his shirt off over his head, biting his lip as it stuck to and pulled the wound.

Considering the sheer number of bullets that had ripped through the air around them, it wasn't really that bad. Just a deep graze along his side, at most a quarter of an inch deep. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't going to kill him. Wetting down a washcloth he handed it to the injured man to clean the gash while the detective went about getting what he needed to patch it up.

Thirty minutes, a lot of swearing, and sixteen stitches later he was done, just putting a little gauze over the area and taping it down. Otherwise every brush of anything on it would irritate the wound and make it heal slower.

"There. Pretty sure you won't die tonight."

"Think I'd rather I had really," Hayner mumbled ungratefully, embarrassed that he'd needed help from someone else. At the older man's dark look he backpedaled, simply thanking him for his assistance and telling him to get the hell to his own bed. With a smirk the other acquiesced, telling him not to do anything to further injure himself before turning and leaving, heading to his own end of the suite. He stripped his suit off and just left it lying on the floor because he was just too damn tired to care right now.

Tucking one of his guns under his pillow, he crawled into bed and just mulled over the day for half an hour before succumbing to sleep.

* * *

><p>He waited a couple hours after Seifer turned in, then got up, changed into his street clothes, and crept out of the suite. Running on heavy painkillers and he felt kind of numb, but he knew he could take care of himself. His .9mm sat comfortably against his lower back, the weight calming in a way it really had no right to be. He went down the stairs normally, not going to risk ripping himself open by jumping down them. Besides, he had all the time in the world.<p>

It was a little past ten at night and chilly. His hoodie kept him warm enough though and he got moving out into the alleys he knew better than the streets themselves. He wondered idly just how pissed Seifer would be if he woke up to find the man he was supposed to protect had skipped out on him. This was a bad idea, of course, but that's the only kind of ideas he had lately. He lit a cigarette and took a drag, the ember glowing orange in the dark.

He didn't really have a destination, so he just kept walking, taking turns at random. Getting lost wasn't a possibility, he'd walked these areas almost every night for years. His mind left idle, he thought of Seifer. The detective didn't hate him anymore, and who the hell gave up a grudge he'd held for most of his life in the space of a few hours? Maybe he really got it after all.

"_I don't like to do what I'm supposed to do. I hate anyone related to the name Corneo. You? You're just Hayner_."

The words echoed in his head and still managed to coax a smile from his face. Maybe there was hope for the detective yet, if he understood that so quickly. But then it hardly mattered, after the whole stupid thing was over they'd never see each other again. He sighed and kept walking.

An hour later he was circling back to head towards the hotel again when he heard someone screaming. Quickly judging the direction of the sound he took off toward it till he found the source. A man holding a woman at knifepoint, her clothes ripped and sobs tearing through her body.

"Hey buddy, don't think she likes you like that," he said, right before he fired three shots into the man's body. One in the soft spot behind his knee, one into the arm holding the knife, and one right at his neck. With a roar of pain he collapsed, his body in shock from the blow to his neck and his knee unable to support his weight. Hayner descended on him, violently smashing the butt of his gun into the man's temple until he was still. Still breathing, but definitely unconscious.

"Are you okay ma'am?" He asked as he got back to his feet, tucking the gun back into his waistband. Arms went around him and held him close as she thanked him through sobs of relief. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks, he wasn't really used to being touched like this, especially not by women.

"Is that a friend of yours over there? He looks pretty angry," she whispered into his ear with a hint of fear, and his heart stopped, then climbed right into his throat. It could be anyone though, right? He turned his head to look in the direction she was, only to set eyes on, of course, none other than Seifer. Hair ruffled and hands shoved into his pockets, but there was definitely a cold rage stirring in his eyes.

"You could say that. He's not a threat to you, at any rate," her savior answered, backing away from her to face the seething detective.

"You make the call yet?"

"Two minutes ago, should hear their sirens pretty soon. She okay?" The blue-eyed man nodded to the woman, who bobbed her head up and down enthusiastically. Hayner removed his lighter and cigarettes from his hoodie pocket, unzipped it, and helped her put it on. Her shirt was ripped half open and she was probably getting chilly, it wasn't like he didn't have five other similar ones.

They stood in pregnant silence until the sirens of a patrol car and an ambulance finally shattered it, two officers and a paramedic emerging from an adjacent alley that led to the street. Hayner lit a cigarette and answered their questions with disinterest, though the grateful look never left the woman's face as she was led away by the paramedic. Another came by with a stretcher for the man he'd beat into unconsciousness. Eventually Seifer told the officers to kindly fuck off, flashing his badge and giving them a look that could strip paint off a wall. They left a little more quickly than they had to.

Minutes passed and the sound of car engines faded completely, leaving just the two of them. The blond detective moved faster than he expected and he suddenly found himself slammed against a wall a little more roughly than he thought was necessary, the older man's hand fisted in his shirt.

"How did you find me?" Not really the best thing he could have said, but who can honestly say they've managed to be intelligent when staring straight into the face of an absolutely furious Seifer Almasy?

"Tseng put a tracking device in your phone a while back, it's currently set to send a signal to me if you move out of a one hundred foot radius from my phone," the other answered, fury coloring his voice.

The cell phone in his back pocket suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous than it had a few minutes ago and he silently cursed Tseng for his forethought.

"Care to tell me why you even thought of going out alone at night literally hours after you had to be stitched back together? You could have been killed Hayner. You may think you're expendable, but you're not. Never, ever step foot out of the suite without me. If you want to go for a walk or whatever the fuck it was you were doing just _wake me up_. Is that really so hard?"

"I've been doing this long before you came along, Seifer. You have no right to tell me I can't just because I'm suddenly important to your fucking agenda. Let. Me. Go," the slighter man snarled, hating that he was physically weaker than the other. He loathed being vulnerable like this, it only reminded him his life was subject to being changed by the brute force of others.

"Fuck you, Hayner. I'm not saying you can't leave, just don't do it alone. I don't care if you've done this a thousand times before and been fine, one time is all it takes for you to wind up dead. If I'm such bad company we don't have to talk, you don't even have to see me. I'll follow you at a distance if that's what you really want, just don't leave without me."

He sounded genuinely worried, which was more than a little surprising. Now that his anger had faded a bit into frustration it was starting to show through that he had been scared something was going to happen to his companion. He was pretty much bending over backward for Hayner even though he had no reason to. Maybe he had some complex about needing to protect people, but it was…nice for those feelings to be directed his way.

"You're not bad company, I'm just not used to people hanging around. If you promise not to try and hold me back from helping people I come across, you can tag along when I take walks. If you must."

"Good. But if I find out that you left without your cell to alert me, there's going to be hell to pay. I am not a very forgiving person."

"You gonna get off me any time soon?" He asked, hyper aware of the approximately seven inches between their faces and the way their knees brushed, not to mention the hand pressing him against the bricks of the building behind him.

"Nah, I kind of like you like this. Pinned. You get so damn flustered."

Was he _flirting_? Seriously, what the hell else was Hayner supposed to get from that? Heat spread across his cheeks and he glared as he tried to struggle out of the older man's grasp. And to make it worse, the scarred detective leaned forward till his mouth was right next to his captive's ear.

"I might be a little rough with you, but if I ever make you truly uncomfortable, or if I'm hurting you, promise me you'll let me know."

"Promise. This-this is okay. Maybe a little more physical than I'm used to, but you're not hurting me."

Apparently satisfied with his answer, the larger man leaned back and released his shirt before stepping away completely. He was harder to read than the younger blond expected, as soon as he thought maybe he had the detective figured out, he did something like _that._

"You're not used to people touching you at all, are you? Even a woman hugging you makes you uncomfortable."

"No one ever gets that close to me. Even when I could still hang out with the others they weren't really physically affectionate. Well, Roxas is, but still. Namine and Kairi, the twins I told you about, they touch me occasionally, but it's usually just a hand on my arm or something. You seem like you express yourself physically in most situations though, so I guess I should get used to it, right? "

"Actions speak louder than words. I guess I just grew up having to express myself with my fists."

"And getting close enough to someone to touch them without hurting them is your way of showing trust."

Shock registered on his face and he opened his mouth a couple of times before managing to form words with it. Hayner had to try really hard not to look smug.

"How'd you figure that out?"

"It was either that or you were just really handsy. I mean think about it, we've only known each other for less than half a day and you've touched me how many times? It doesn't bother me much, but it was something I noticed. If you start crossing lines I'll tell you, so don't worry too much about it."

"Your side hurt? You were pretty rough with that guy, did you jar your stitches?"

"A little, but I don't think anything is really out of place."

"You weren't firing normal bullets either. You hit him all three times but he wasn't bleeding at all."

"Rubber bullets. My nine always has rubber bullets in it. I sort of run into this sort of thing a lot."

"And you fired it with your left hand. Your forty-five corresponds to your right side. Your gloved right hand is the one that deals with work for the mafia, your left hand is for helping people."

Now it was Hayner's turn to be shocked, "I thought it would take you at least a week to figure that out."

"How much is a lot, anyway? You just rescue women being accosted every night?"

"Not every night. Maybe once a week or so."

Seifer just laughed and shook his head, shoving his hands back in his pockets, waiting. After a moment's hesitation, Hayner started walking along the alley again, lighting a cigarette and gesturing that the other should follow.

"You don't have to keep your distance, and if you want we could talk. I didn't leave alone tonight to get away from you, I just needed to clear my head and didn't want to wake you up. I know we probably don't have the same sleep schedule so-"

"I don't care. I work all shifts, it's easy enough for me to acclimate to a different schedule. You sleep till the afternoon, right? We've got hours to kill, then, by your time."

"You don't have to switch your whole life around for me, you know."

"Yeah, actually I do. And hell, maybe I want to. There are a lot of people out there who owe you their lives, and even if I don't completely get why you do what you do, I'll do my best to help you do it."

"I do it because I might as well do something decent with my life. It won't make up for everything I've done, but it's better than doing nothing."

"Killing people doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. I've ended several lives myself, and though I'm not really proud of it, I don't think it makes me evil."

"But it's your job to kill people if they pose a threat-"

"I've never killed anyone while on duty. Either as a cop or a detective."

Ice-colored eyes watched him levelly, dead serious. He wasn't sure how to reply, it was too rude to ask after when he'd actually killed people beyond the two Hayner already knew about. He guessed it had to do with Seifer's previous line of work, but still, even if he was a murderer, of the two of them the older man was far less twisted.

"I killed three people in revenge once. Called them to a safe house, lined them up, and shot them one after the other. I'm pretty sure that makes me a horrible person, Seifer."

"What'd they do?"

"Killed someone important to me, was worried they'd come after me next if I didn't take care of them."

"It's kill or be killed, I don't think you're a bad guy just because you protected yourself, or took revenge for the death of a loved one. I did the same thing, if you recall."

"It's not the same."

"Yeah, Hayner, it is exactly the same. This city twists and breaks everything it touches, and if we're bad people for not just rolling over and letting it kill us, so be it. You've done some pretty bad shit in your life, so have I. We both try to make amends as best we can. I think you're a good person, and I have every reason to hate you, so my opinion should mean something."

He sighed, wondering if Seifer would have the same opinion after he learned all the things his companion had done, learned that Hayner was essentially a monster in disguise. Yeah, he did help people, but it would never be enough. The backs of his eyes prickled hot, and fuck it he was not crying here. He blinked rapidly and suddenly turned back the way they'd came, tired of wandering through the maze of Twilight Town.

"Let's just go back, alright? I'm tired."

"Sure, whatever you want to do."

It was getting colder as the buildings closed and heat stopped seeping through them, vapor from his breath was ghosting out of his mouth more clearly now, and he was starting to feel cold without his hoodie. Just before he started shivering the scarred man beside him pulled off his coat and put it around Hayner's slight shoulders.

"You'll get cold," he said dumbly, pulling the coat on regardless.

"We'll be back in half an hour, and you've been cooling down for an hour, whereas I've been warm up until now. It's fine, just accept it for what it is."

"Well, thanks," the brown-eyed man returned awkwardly.

"How's your wound doing? Painkillers wearing off yet?"

"Yeah, you noticed?"

"You're limping a bit; want me to carry you the rest of the way?"

"I would rather die."

A smirk, "Suit yourself. If you start to fall behind though, I'm going to whether you like it or not."

Fifteen minutes later the younger man was starting to fade, the pain burning in his side and overall fatigue slowly forcing his façade to crumble. The detective noticed it too, eyes softening slightly.

"You could either let me piggyback you the rest of the way, or I'll just throw you over my shoulder. Your choice."

Not like he had much of an option, and if he were to be honest with himself, he wasn't going to make it the rest of the distance under his own power. Wrapping his arms around the older man's neck he jumped onto his back, the other catching and trapping his legs easily. He was pretty sure no one had carried him even once, yet in the space of a few hours Seifer had done it twice.

The scarred man was radiating heat despite not having anything but a t-shirt on, and it felt natural to just rest his chin on the other's shoulder as they moved. He wondered how Seifer knew which way to take, but then he'd already proven himself a lot smarter than he let on. Head firmly nestled between the blue-eyed man's shoulder and neck, Hayner drifted off to sleep just a few minutes before the hotel came into view.

* * *

><p>Seifer fumbled for the key card while trying to balance his charge on his back. The hotel staff gave him an odd look when he came in but eventually one of the receptionists stepped over into the elevator to give him a hand. They rode the elevator in silence, the woman smart enough not to ask questions, thank the gods. She followed him up the final flight of stairs and helped him open the door, stepping back and smiling before retreating back the way she came.<p>

He slipped into the door, kicking it closed behind him and making a mental note to activate the locks once he had his hands free. Hayner had clearly fallen asleep, breathing deep and slow. At least he didn't weigh much for his size. He was about the same height as the detective himself, but weighed probably seventy pounds less due to the difference in their builds and muscle tone.

The older man carried him into the sandy-blond's bedroom, dumping him onto the bed, wondering what he should do next. Logically he'd take off the other's shoes and empty his pockets, but the latter seemed a little more intimate than he should get with another person while they were sleeping. Hayner couldn't exactly tell him if he was crossing boundaries. Eventually he settled on just removing the sleeping man's gun, phone and shoes, because those would get uncomfortable soon. He set the safety on the gun and placed both it and the phone on the bedside nightstand.

He wondered if it was odd to let someone you barely knew sleep in your coat, but he didn't think on it too long, setting the locks before walking back to his own bedroom. Tonight had definitely been eventful and more than a little revealing of the true character of his companion. His night excursion could have been an act, or even staged, but Vaan had mentioned something about taking a walk when they'd talked earlier in the day. It was likely that this sort of thing was exactly what he'd been referring to.

Seifer wasn't ready to completely trust Hayner though. He may be a good person under all the walls he put up, but there was still something off about him. Almost like the brown-eyed man was trying to drop hints for the detective to pick up, to warn him about what was going to happen, that the older man should stay on his toes. Or it could just be the paranoia of dealing with strangers in an unusual situation getting to him. Either way, he'd do his best to protect his charge while seeking out the truth of the situation. He had a feeling if he could puzzle out Hayner, he'd find the answers he was looking for. Easier said than done, if their first day together was any indication.

* * *

><p>As you may have guessed by now, this is a fairly lengthy multichapter fic. I've been working on it for close to a year now and as such have it maybe half done. Every 1-2 weeks I'll upload another chapter. 5 chapters are done up to this point, but I rather like the feedback I get when it's chapter-by-chapter rather than a summary of several. I work 50 hours a week, so I may not be entirely punctual, and after the chapters that are already done go up it may take much longer to get the next few just because I have such limited time. Thank you for reading, hope you'll stick around for the rest.<p> 


	2. Fatalism and Falsehoods

Hayner woke exhausted, sore, in pain, and in another man's coat. The time on his phone read 12:14 in the afternoon as he rolled out of bed with a groan. He found his cigarettes and his lighter still in his front pocket, somewhat relieved that Seifer didn't fumble through all of his pockets last night, if he did remove the more bothersome items from the younger man's person.

It suddenly hit him that he _fell asleep_ on the detective, and his cheeks burned. He hated showing weakness, being helpless, and he'd done exactly that in front of someone he shouldn't allow himself to trust. But he wanted to trust Seifer, the man easily one of the most stubbornly, obnoxiously kind people he'd ever met. His automatic need to protect whoever seemed unable to fully defend themselves was endearing, but this was hardly a fairy tale. The man with ice-colored eyes was no more a knight in shining armor than Hayner was a princess in a tower. He couldn't trust anyone with this.

He wondered what exactly they should try to get accomplished today, remembering the issue of Zack Fair from yesterday's conversation with Vaan. Something about it peaked his interest. Standing and stretching, he decided to convince either Tseng or Seifer to give him the case file to look over. Generally if people went missing, it had something to do with the mob.

Popping some painkillers from the medicine cabinet, he washed his face and stared angrily at his reflection. He barely held down the sudden, irrational urge to just smash the fucking mirror. Today was going to be a long day. Sighing, he headed through to the center room, finding Seifer there waiting for him. He'd changed clothes from last night, all the personal items he'd need for the duration of his stay most likely having been delivered to the hotel that morning.

"How you feeling, Hayner?"

"Fine. Thanks…for carrying me back last night. Really sorry about that, here's your coat back," the younger man said as he handed his companion the aforementioned item.

"Don't be, it's no big deal. I pretty much assumed it was going to happen, you were fading fast. The woman you rescued is fine, by the way, and I'm going to have to testify against the guy who attacked her in court in three weeks. Since you can't. And if you apologize, so help me I will smack you."

"Thank you. Um, can you do me a favor?"

"I like to know what it is before I agree," he responded, eyeing the smaller blond warily.

"You mentioned a guy named Zack Fair, do you have any records of him? Pictures or anything? I'm just a bit curious, people here who fall off the face of the Earth usually end up in one of two places. Dead or kidnapped by the mafia."

"You think you might know him? Whatever, can't really hurt. I'll have Tseng get someone to drop the file off for you today. In the meantime, you need to do anything?"

"Too early to gather evidence, if that's what you mean. If shit started disappearing the day after you arrived they'd connect the dots pretty quickly. We have to wait at least a few days. A week ideally, but that's probably not how it's going to work out. In the meantime, you could just go home or go out-"

"No. I'm not leaving you alone. I have one job, and it's to stay by your side and make sure nothing happens to you, and I'm damn well going to do it. So get it through your thick skull that nothing you do is going to get me to leave."

Hayner faltered, still surprised by Seifer's conviction. He felt guilty and quietly sent a prayer that the detective would make it through the ordeal alive. He wasn't going to let another person die for him if he could help it.

"I guess we could watch TV or play videogames or something. I'm not really up to a day wandering the town."

"Whatever you want to do."

"You have any ideas other than that? I don't really do much during the day, there's no reason for you to just put up with me."

"I've really got nothing better to do. And do you really think I'd complain about spending my day at work playing videogames and watching TV?"

Hayner let a tiny smile slip through, because yeah, he supposed that was a pretty decent day at work. A few hours, several thrown controllers, and some quiet nature show watching (anything else was blasphemy on high definition) later they were just laying on the floor in front of the TV and staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, just that it was comfortable. The painkillers had worn off long ago and his side hurt like a bitch, but he wasn't ready to get up to take some more.

"Are you ever going to tell me your motivations for doing all this? Why not just run away? Do you really think they'd try that hard to find you?"

"They would, yeah. But I could probably get away. I just can't leave this goddamn town to you guys to clean up by yourselves. If you tried to do what I'm going to do for you, you'd be killed. I can't leave something I'm partially responsible for to be taken care of by someone else."

"That's not the only reason though."

"For now let's just pretend it is."

"Fair enough."

"So…You used to be involved in the black market?"

A smirk signaled that he hadn't crossed the line with his prodding, "Yeah, when I was fifteen. Did some stupid things in my life, stuff I'm not proud of. I was shuffled from home to home for a long time, nothing ever quite fitting. I was young and angry at the world, so instead of just going to school like everyone else, I skipped out half the time to run an illegal business. I passed regardless and by the time I turned eighteen I'd moved millions in materia and magicite. Bought a flat and a car in cash, moved out as soon as I could."

"Your adoptive parents?"

"Never home. Had no idea, as far as I know they don't to this day. I think they only adopted a kid so they'd have someone to watch the house for them while they were out on business."

"I guess that worked well for your extracurricular activities, but I bet it was lonely."

"I have a cat. Stole it as a kitten while taking some items from a collection. It's one of those exotic crosses? Either way he's huge, all black, likes to get up close and personal. Made shopping for a flat quite a bit more difficult."

"You stole someone's cat," Hayner repeated flatly, not sure whether it was hilarious or deranged. Hilariously deranged.

"They were breeding the damn things to sell. They weren't going to keep it, just auction it off to the highest bidder."

"I guess that's okay then. You probably treat it better than the person who would have bought it. Does this cat of yours have a name? If you say Midnight I will end you."

"A friend of mine from the orphanage that I stayed in contact with named him Greiver. Not sure why, but it seemed like a good name."

"Are Fuujin and Raijin taking care of him while you're here?"

"Yeah. He seems to like them a lot. Well, he likes most everyone actually. Someone broke in once though, they came out a bit worse for wear. I could take you to see him some time. You ever have any pets?"

"I had a goldfish once. My dad shot it."

Seifer's expression darkened, then turned to confusion as he thought the statement over.

"I was kidding. You took that seriously?" Hayner couldn't quite manage to stop laughing, holding his injured side as he teetered on the edge of hysterics. The detective just looked disgruntled for a few moments, then eventually laughed himself. When they finally stopped, the younger rolled over to face his companion.

"So why'd you stop trafficking and join the force? It was obviously lucrative enough to keep you there, did you just get tired of it?"

"Couldn't stay. I knew if I stuck around much longer it'd kill me. So I joined the force, because I wanted to make this godforsaken town a place where people can actually live in peace without worrying that their family members are going to be spirited away or shot dead in the street."

"That's a good goal. Not sure it's all that attainable, but maybe. The other crime syndicates will be easy enough to take down once Corneo's out of the way. They'll be scrambling to try and take over and leave themselves unguarded."

"Which is why this operation is so damn important."

"So that's why you're putting up with me," Hayner said, a hint of a joking lilt to his voice.

"You're really not that difficult to deal with. Yeah, you put yourself in danger way more than I'm comfortable with, but you don't really ask for much from me. As far as people I've been forced to protect, you might be my favorite. Most of them were boring as hell and never talked. I think they didn't like me much."

"And who says I like you?" The brown-eyed man tried really hard to sound serious, but it was completely ruined when he couldn't hold back a smile. He wasn't ready to call them friends, but he had to admit he did enjoy Seifer's company when he wasn't being pinned to something by the older man. Well, maybe a tiny bit then too.

A knock at the door to the room made him tense suddenly, the detective getting up to answer it. It was one of the receptionists holding something sealed in plastic. The older blond took it and returned, dropping it down right on his chest.

"There's the file you wanted. Not really sure it's going to help anything, but knock yourself out."

He rolled over and opened the file on the floor in front of him. He glanced at the physical description, but skipped through until he found a decent picture. It was taken several years ago, but he'd recognize those eyes anywhere. He'd only seen one person with eyes that glowed with mako, the specific type of mana that formed materia. Fuck.

He yanked out his phone and sorted through his contacts to find 'arena stable', trying to remember the guy's actual name rather than his position in the mob. That's what most of his contacts were, just the person's title because names didn't mean a damn to him. He hit the call button regardless, if the man had half a brain left he'd recognize the number.

"Sir, what can I do for you today?"

He very nearly sighed in relief that the man remembered the rule about never using his last name, "I need you to send me a picture of the fighter you call Wolf. You showed him to me last time I stopped by the arena, and a friend of mine heard the rumors and wants to know what he looks like."

"Sure boss, no problem. I'll go take it right now, if there's nothing else you wanted?"

"I might come by tomorrow to show him around, he's pretty interested in the sport. A bit of a gambler, you could say. I won't be calling ahead if I do decide to show up."

"Of course not, boss, we're always happy to see you. I'll have one of the boys waiting tomorrow, just in case."

"Thank you for you cooperation," the blond said right before snapping his phone shut.

"What was that all about?" Seifer asked immediately, deep curiosity in his eyes.

"Give me a few minutes to sort things out, then I'll explain."

About a minute later, roughly what it'd take the man at the arena he'd called to run down to the holding cells and open the door, a picture was sent to him. It was a little dark, but there were those blueblueblue eyes looking back at him, spiky black hair cut to a length of four inches, the maximum the fighters could have.

"Does this look like Zack Fair, in your professional opinion? I figure you'd know as well as anyone."

He stood and handed the phone to the detective, and the expression on the man's face was absolutely priceless. Complete fucking bewilderment. Eyebrows drew down enough to screw up the lines of the scar on his forehead as he focused more closely on the picture, relaxing again as he handed the phone back.

"Couldn't be anyone else. Only other one left with eyes like that is Cloud himself. They were part of some experiment that involved infusing the body with high levels of mako. Super soldiers. If Zack doesn't remember who he is, he's going to be dangerous. Where the fuck did you get this anyways? The guy you just called?"

"Yeah, that guy runs the mob's underground fighting circuit. Zack's of their best fighters, call him Wolf. Even if he doesn't remember who he is, he'll remember Cloud."

"How do you know?"

"I spoke with him briefly. Said he wanted to get out and find the missing part of him. Couldn't quite remember the guy's name, but said he'd know it if someone said it, know who it was if he saw him. If we can convince him we're going to take him to Cloud, he'll cooperate. You have Cloud's number somewhere? Should let him know about this."

"I do, I can give it to you. So we're going tomorrow? We're seriously just going to walk in and steal their best fighter? You know they're not going to let you do that, no matter who you are."

"And that is why you're going to shut up and do exactly as I say. I have a plan, but I'll need your help for it."

"I'll do whatever you need me to do, but I won't put you in danger. Or let you put yourself in danger."

"That's fine. I won't be in any danger so long as things go according to plan."

"So what tipped you off that Zack Fair and the guy you saw fight once might be the same person?"

"You mentioned he was in special-ops? He said that's where he got his combat training when I asked him. And the whole looking for his missing boyfriend thing."

"I've been looking for this guy for three fucking years, and in one day you manage to find him. You're making me look bad."

"I just have better access to information than you. It helps to be inside. You know, honestly, Zack could prove a valuable witness in court. He's been kept chained up and blinded except during fights for three years. Stolen sale records and drugs are all well and good, but living, breathing proof of the atrocities Corneo has committed is even better. If he agreed to it, of course."

"You sure you didn't plan this?" Seifer asked, clearly joking by the tilt of his mouth, but it was like being hit with a bucket of ice water. The smile fell off his face and he leveled the older man with a hard glare, left hand itching to form a fist.

"Hey, I was joking. I know you had nothing to do with this, Hayner, calm down."

He lit a cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled shakily, wondering if he could handle this right now. Probably not, but he had to try. Forcing a small smile, he waved it off as if it was nothing, because it really shouldn't be. The blue-eyed man was watching him warily, as if any moment he'd start throwing punches. Or break down and cry, which was far more likely.

"I'm sorry."

It was the simplicity of the apology that got him. No 'sorry I upset you' or 'sorry, I didn't know', just an apology that left all the responsibility for the situation on the detective's shoulders. He hated when others apologized in such a way that they seemed to be accusing him of causing the problem by reacting. Taking another hit of his cigarette, he sighed out smoke, calming down.

"'S fine. 'M just touchy," and goddamn it all, why did he slur his words when he was upset?

"If it bothers you, it bothers you. Just because some things get to you doesn't make you touchy, it just makes you human. We all have things that upset us for one reason or another."

"You don't seem to."

A dark smirk, "I definitely do, more than most people actually. You've already hit one, I hate it when people try to hide when they're hurt or don't accept help when they need it. I just respond with physical violence instead of shutting down."

Now he felt guilty for last night, at the same time wondering how the hell they were going to survive each other. He never let people know when he was hurting, he couldn't trust them not to just kick him while he was down. But then, it hardly mattered now. He might as well just try to keep from pissing Seifer off.

"You don't have to trust me, you don't even have to like me. But at least tell me if you need help."

"You like to protect people, don't you? Even those you really shouldn't."

"You don't think I should protect you? Why not, there's no one else in a position to do so."

"Because no one else wants to."

Lips drawn back in a snarl, the scarred man grabbed the front of the other's shirt and pulled him forward until their faces were inches apart, Hayner very nearly dropping his cigarette in surprise. It suddenly struck him that his companion was _dangerous, _and really that realization should have come sooner considering, but the older man's generally caring attitude had lulled him into a false sense of security.

"Let's get one thing straight, okay? You are not useless, you are not a bad person, you are not unworthy of other's affections, and the only reason you don't have a whole damn army here to take care of your every fucking whim is because you're trying your best to protect everyone else from what you have to deal with. By all accounts, you're a goddamn saint."

He couldn't fucking deal with this, not now. The younger man wasn't even actively deceiving the detective but he was already trying to tell him he was a good person.

"You have no idea what I've done."

"You're right, I don't. And you don't have to tell me for me to say you're a good person. No matter what you've done in the past. I hope eventually if I keep saying this you'll get it through your thick skull. You can't let your past define your future, or you'll never end up going anywhere in life. There's only so long you can repent for your sins before you're just using it as a crutch to avoid living."

He fought against the hold Seifer had on him, pushing the larger man away. With a cold stare the other kept his ground until Hayner just fucking charged him, bringing them both crashing down onto the thickly carpeted floor. In the ensuing wrestling match the scarred detective managed to pin Hayner facedown on the floor, left arm behind his back. With the full bulk of the well-built man on top of him he struggled just to breathe, much less break free.

"Is this okay, Hayner?" Seifer asked, breathing starting to calm as he loosened his hold just a tiny bit so the other could turn his head to speak.

The sandy-blond couldn't help himself, he started to laugh. Even now, the detective was making sure he wasn't making his charge any more uncomfortable than he really had to. It was fucking ridiculous, and he wondered how someone so broken could be so kind to a person he barely knew. Because Seifer was broken, not nearly as much as the younger of the two, but he still had plenty of his own demons yet to be assuaged. At some point his laughter had devolved into quiet sobs, but still the scarred man remained silent.

Eventually he quieted down and just laid there, wondering what the fuck they were doing. People didn't have emotional breakdowns in front of someone they didn't even know, much less did they _cause_ someone they didn't know to have one. There was something magnetic about the two of them, and it was really just starting to piss him off. Seifer pulled him up into a sitting position, then hesitantly wrapped his arms around the smaller man and hugged him to his chest gently.

He'd never been held likes this. Sure, he'd been hugged by his friends, but not just…held. Whatever the other was doing Hayner wasn't sure he was okay with the motivation that had to be behind it, but the act itself was calming. They sat like that for what felt like an hour, not talking, just breathing. Finally he asked to be let up and the older of the two let him go. Standing and turning to help the detective to his feet, he noticed an odd expression on the scarred face, something he couldn't even begin to puzzle out before it disappeared.

"Thanks. Sorry for the way I blew up on you like that. I had no right," he mumbled awkwardly as he offered the blue-eyed blond a hand up.

"You of all people have a right to be angry. I just don't think you should direct that anger towards yourself. Whatever you've done, whoever you've killed, it was the fault of the life you were born into. I'm not big on blaming other people for crimes, but sometimes it's really not your fault something happened. Even if you pulled the trigger yourself, you're doing your best to make up for that. It's all you can do, it's just going to have to be enough. You can't live like this forever."

It was odd looking straight into his icy eyes as he spoke, it felt like he should be at least a foot taller or something. The age gap between them really wasn't that big, but he supposed the life experience each had was vastly different. He still didn't believe what Seifer was saying, but it helped just a little having someone older and wiser telling him it wasn't his fault. If he knew the truth he wouldn't say so, of course, and that's what really made withholding information a double-edged sword. On one hand, the detective was still working with him, but on the other he hated trying to keep everything a secret from someone who probably deserved to know what exactly he was dealing with.

"So, Cloud's number?" Definitely one of the most awkward transitions he'd ever made.

With a nod the blue-eyed detective flipped open his phone and scrolled through his contacts, and held out the device so Hayner could add the number to his phone. He typed out a quick text explaining he was a friend of Seifer's, before sending both it and the photo. He was just about to say something about getting food when his phone rang, no doubt in his mind who it could be. This was going to be fun.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell did you get this photo?"

"Had a guy take it for me an hour ago. I assume that's your Zack?"

"Where. Is. He," the man on the other end said, carefully separating each word and punctuating each of them with silent death threats.

"He's a fighter in the underground arena circuit run by Corneo's mob. I can get him out myself tomorrow, I already know how to manage it. I just need you to be patient. I'll text you the time and location in a second, you should try to stay at least a block or two away, but keep your eyes open, we only have one chance."

"Understood. What's your name?"

"Hayner."

A beat, then, "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Hayner."

The line went dead with a click and he breathed out slowly in relief. That was mostly painless, though he could tell from the pause that Cloud had recognized his name. Sending the text he'd promised, he shoved the phone back in his pocket, ran a hand through his hair and looked back at Seifer.

"We're on for tomorrow I guess. I highly suggest you come prepared."

"Are you going to tell me what's going on in that head of yours, or are you just going to make me play it by ear?"

"The second one. Gotta keep you on your toes."

"Pretty sure I'm not going to become complacent any time soon. If you recall, we were shot at just yesterday."

"I figured you were used to that though."

The other's eyes rolled and he shook his head, but a small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth, "So, you going to eat any time soon?"

"Oh, right. I guess I should call room service to have them bring something up. Usually they've called me by now, but I guess they think I'm busy."

"Since you have a guest."

He tried really hard not to blush at that, even if he failed the effort should count for something, "Yeah, I guess. You want anything while I'm at it?"

"I had something before you got up, but that was something like five hours ago, so yeah. Don't care what, just pick something edible that doesn't stare back at me."

"No one eats lobster for lunch anyways."

"Hayner, it's half past five. Many people are getting ready for dinner right about now."

"Well screw them, it's lunch time for me."

"What time do you usually order dinner?"

"Ten or eleven. For a while I'd just order pizza because I knew the kitchen closed around then and I'm not so much of an entitled ass I'll make them stay past their scheduled hours just to accommodate me, but eventually they caught on. Now the head chef keeps things running after hours specifically for me. I guess he likes me or something? I told him he really didn't have to, but he does anyway."

"Clearly he's just fallen for your charms. You're horrid, leading him on like that."

Choking and spluttering comically, Hayner shook his head and glared at the older man. It was pretty funny, he had to admit. When he'd composed himself, he got on the phone for room service and ordered them lunch. Just a simple sandwich platter, he wasn't really all that hungry. He was nervous for tomorrow, the anticipation stirring uncomfortably in his abdomen. It wasn't often that he busted a super soldier who barely knew who he was from an underground prison.

"Your side bothering you yet?"

"Yeah, a little. Think I jarred it earlier, but I doubt I did any real damage. Just need some more painkillers, waiting till I've had something to eat."

"You really don't care who the shooters were? You never pursued them."

"Until they get in our way I'm glad for the distraction. It'll keep everyone scrambling for a while, and it'll be easy enough to blame another faction for the stuff that'll go missing soon."

"You have a point there, I guess they do have great timing."

"And besides, I have you to protect me, right?"

Seifer smiled and gave him an affirmative, mood considerably brightened. It was interesting how much of a pull over the other's emotions he had, and he was going to try his damndest not to take advantage of it. He didn't need that on his conscience too. They'd moved to the center room now, sitting on opposite couches. Lighting a cigarette from the pack he'd left on the table at some point, he let his head loll back lazily as he smoked. It was nice to have nothing specific to do for the moment. He had at least half an hour till the food was ready, so he finished his cigarette and let himself fall into a doze.

* * *

><p>Hayner seemed to be asleep for the moment, and offered the opportunity Seifer couldn't help but study him. While he slept the planes of his face smoothed and he actually looked his age, if tired. Despite how much he slept he always looked like someone haunted by sleepless nights and nightmares. He probably was, actually.<p>

It was clear there was something major he was hiding from the detective, the way he referenced the things he did in the past spoke of something larger than the murder of a few thugs. He had mentioned that someone he cared for had been killed by the very men who served him, so that may have something to do with it. Either way, it was tearing him apart. The more Seifer forced him to confront it, the more he seemed to fall to pieces. For now he'd back off, he was going to have to wait until it was a better time to spend a few days, or weeks, picking up the pieces.

He'd never really had to deal with someone so utterly broken by the life they'd led. He'd dealt with drug addicts, black market dealers, prostitutes, hitmen, and even ex-mafia members who were essentially all of the above, but this was something else entirely. Hayner hadn't just been beaten down by life, he'd been destroyed. He tried to hide it, but he had no will to live, no confidence in himself, and no respect for his well-being. Yet some small spark kept him going, the idea he could still do something worthwhile with the life he had.

Scrubbing his face to draw himself out of his dark thoughts, he moved on instead to analyze their earlier fight. It hadn't been much of one really, just a few moments of struggling on the floor before the detective had him effectively pinned and he fell into hysterics below the older blond. He'd very nearly brought the other to tears and he still didn't quite know why. Seifer wasn't sure why he'd had the bright idea to hold Hayner in an embrace, but it'd worked, the younger man quickly calming down and relaxing into it. He supposed the other wasn't used to that sort of intimacy between friends since all the people he actually liked could never see him.

He was also impressed with how Hayner figured out Zack had been turned into an underground fighter, though he wasn't very confident about the whole 'just follow my lead' thing the nineteen year-old suggested. It could very easily go south, and he didn't doubt that his companion would put himself in danger. Either way, he had no choice. He'd protect his charge and they'd return the missing man to the arms of his lover.

Hayner woke when room service brought their meal to them, and they passed the rest of the day much as they had the first part of it. It was a bit more tense, but more with anticipation of the next day than animosity. Indeed, it seemed like the brown-eyed blond was more comfortable with him now, the distance between them when they sat in front of the TV dwindling. It may not have been a day on the town, but it was definitely a day of progress.

* * *

><p>He woke with a gasp, memories of blood on his hands and shaky last words still sharp from his nightmare. <em>Fuck<em>. Tears sprang to his eyes of their own accord and he hastily wiped them away. Angry with himself for still not being able to just deal with this, he stumbled out of bed and towards the entertainment room adjacent. There he sat and smoked a few cigarettes, finger hovering over the call button, Roxas's number already entered. The clock on his phone read 3:32am.

He closed it and set it on the table to avoid just throwing it against the wall. He went through five cigarettes and somewhere around the sixth he noticed something off, glancing at the doorway to the center room to find Seifer lurking there. Once he got over the shock, he wondered what could have drawn the man here.

"Did I wake you or something?" Please don't say he was crying out in his sleep again.

"You were screaming in your sleep. I thought I'd come check on you."

_Fuck_.

"How long have you been there?"

"I looked in right before you woke up, and have been here since."

This was absolutely not what he needed right now, "I'm fine, really. Just nightmares. Bad ones."

"Memories. Who is Jack?"

Hayner froze, just hearing that name was enough to turn his insides to ice and pain, "I cannot appropriately express in words how much I do not want to talk about this."

"Mind if I come in then?"

_Please, _"Yes, I do mind."

The other man walked over and sat down next to him regardless, their shoulders brushing. He took another drag of his cigarette and decided to just let the silence stretch until Seifer wanted to break it. Minutes passed, he lit up again and was about halfway through it when the detective finally spoke.

"You used to be in a fairly intimate relationship with someone, right?"

He was too tired to fight this, "Yeah, I was. For two years. How'd you figure it out?"

"You sleep on one side of your bed, even though it's a double, and you reach out as if you're used to finding someone there."

"Everyone always leaves. Or dies."

"Roxas, Pence and Olette didn't leave, they're still waiting for you. I won't leave you, or die on you."

"When this is over you'll go back to your job and forget about me."

"Last I checked I was the only one who got to dictate my life."

"What are you getting out of this, Seifer? You try so hard to be nice to me, and I just don't fucking get it."

"I like helping people who deserve it. Kinda one of the job requirements. If I can't help the person sitting right next to me, it means I've failed at my job as a detective. I protect this city, Hayner, always have. Ever hear of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee?"

"Three vigilantes who went around a few years ago just generally fucking up the lives of all the terrible people that take up residence in this city."

"Me, Fuu, and Rai. We used the merchandise I'd stolen to defend ourselves and cause general mayhem in the underground. It's amazing how hard materia is to trace back to the user."

And damn but that was news to him. He'd almost forgotten about the bunch, but he guessed now that they were Turks they used their positions to do the same things they used to, just legally. Maybe the knight analogy wasn't really that far off of describing Seifer.

"So I'm your new project then?"

"I think friend would be a more applicable term. Project implies work, and I don't consider spending time with you to be work."

"You're a very puzzling man, Seifer."

"Right back at you."

"Whoever puts all the pieces together first wins, right?"

"I suppose so. Though you can never know everything about a person."

"But you can figure out what makes them tick. And once you know that, you can destroy them with minimal effort."

"You can trust me."

"I know I can. But you shouldn't trust me with something like that, Seifer."

"You're right, I shouldn't. But I think I've mentioned before: I don't like to do what I'm supposed to. You want to try and break me, go on ahead. I don't think you will though."

"I can't tell if it's too early or too late to be having this conversation."

The older man just chuckled and leaned back into the couch. Hayner smoked another cigarette, finally feeling ready to try and go back to sleep. He headed back towards his bedroom and the other moved to leave.

"Hey Seifer?" A noise of acknowledgement from the other, "Thanks."

A nod was the only response he got, and really the only one he wanted. He retreated into his room and shut the door behind him. He was tempted to lock it, but thought better of it. Just this once he'd trust someone. Slipping back into the cool bed, he wondered how long it would take the detective to put all the pieces Hayner was giving him together. He closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

* * *

><p>Seifer couldn't sleep, and as the clock ticked ever closer to five o'clock it became more and more maddening. Images of Hayner thrashing in his bed as he begged some man named Jack 'why didn't you just go when you had the chance, what have I done' in a broken voice haunted him every time he closed his eyes. He didn't know if Jack was the same person who the brown-eyed man had shared his bed with at one time, but either way he didn't like the idea of leaving him alone now that he knew.<p>

Sighing in frustration, he lay still on the bed and tried to think of how to fix the whole damn mess. No matter what his companion believed, even after this job was over he'd still stay with the younger man to try and put him back together right. He couldn't leave this alone any more than he could give up his badge. For now he'd take things one step at a time, picking up the pieces Hayner left behind until they formed a complete picture. And that meant getting some fucking sleep so he could be ready to rescue a man he'd been searching for long before any of this started.

He rolled over and closed his eyes, trying his best to think of anything other than a young man suffering from far too many demons left unexorcised. It was a failed endeavor, but eventually his body gave up and allowed him to fall back into the empty darkness.

* * *

><p>The detective woke just a few minutes before noon, stretching before dragging himself out of bed and getting washed and dressed. He ached to just go back to bed, but he'd be damned if he was going to be woken up by his companion. Not just because it would be unprofessional of him not to be ready to go long before he needed to, but because he didn't want the other to see how vulnerable he looked while he slept. He had a role to play in this twisted puppet show and it involved looking invincible, someone Hayner could depend on for anything. That was his job, and he was damn well going to do it.<p>

Sitting down on the couch, he called room service to bring him something for breakfast. It was a habit to eat as soon as he got up, he never knew when he'd be called in early for something. He texted Tseng that he'd be busy today so the other man wouldn't bother trying to call him, and put his phone on silent before he forgot. He ate his meal quietly, wondering if he should check in on his charge after he finished. He decided against it, figuring he could just let the man sleep as long as he needed to.

Sure enough, half an hour later the younger man stumbled out into the main room. It was amazing how he managed to get into something as complex as a suit when he looked half-dead and drugged to hell. The sandy-blond hit the couch with an audible thud, sprawling out like a cat.

"You hurt your side last night?"

"Yeah. Took some painkillers for it, but they're not quite working yet."

"You sure you're up for-"

"Of course. Doesn't matter how I feel, I'm going to do this. It'll be fine, promise."

"Don't push yourself too hard. You're of no help to anyone if you hurt yourself."

"I know my limits, and I know what happens when I try to ignore them. You don't need to worry about me. I _can_ take care of myself you know."

"You've been doing a great job of it so far," he really hadn't intended to voice the sarcastic quip, but there it was.

Hayner shot him a glare, but it faded quickly and he rolled over to lay on his stomach, head buried in his arms. It was clear he hadn't slept very well even after his first round of nightmares. No wonder he always looked so tired, if he spent every night in the clutch of painful memories.

"You should eat something before we leave. What time did you give Cloud, anyways?"

"Three. Any earlier and it'd be suspicious. Everyone knows how late I like to sleep. I'm not hungry right now, either," he answered, turning his head to face Seifer, brown eyes listless.

"You really should eat something. If you fill your stomach with nothing but pills you'll make yourself sick."

"Thanks for that lovely piece of advice, _Mom._ Now if you could please just leave me be…"

"I'm being serious here, Hayner. You really need to eat something. We can't afford you getting sick today."

"Fine, if it'll get you to shut up."

With an inordinate about of grumbling, he called for a light meal to be brought up and sat with his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to be doing his best impression of a petulant child, and it was just a tiny bit cute. Eating his seafood salad, he kept glancing surreptitiously at the detective.

"There something on my face? And if you say the scar, I swear I will hit you."

"You look tired. Sorry I woke you up last night."

"Not like you could help it. I hope I wasn't crossing any lines by stepping into your room to see what was wrong."

"Nah, not really. I mean, it's your job, right? Or I guess if we're friends, it's your obligation as a friend. You would have figured it out eventually anyway. You're too bright to miss something like that."

"So was Jack your boyfriend?"

Brown eyes darkened and he stopped eating, seeming to draw into himself like a snail into its shell, "Can we please save this conversation for some other time? I can't do this right now."

"We don't have to have it if you don't want to. I don't have a right to your past," Seifer backed off easily, knowing better than to push the younger man right now.

"But friends should know these things, right? I'll tell you later, just not now."

A slight tinge crept into his cheeks when he called the two of them friends, like he was embarrassed or waiting to be shot down. It was like he was an awkward teenager again, though when the scarred man thought about it, Hayner probably completely skipped that phase of his life. He seemed to be missing most of a proper childhood's milestones.

"Friends also trade stories, and I believe I have you at some disadvantage."

Eyelashes fluttered thoughtfully as brown eyes lightened a little, curiosity sparking a light behind them, "First kiss."

An odd question, to be sure, but he supposed everything was fair game for now, "The same person who named Griever, a guy by the name of Squall, grew up with him at the orphanage. We dated for a bit before he cheated on me with an air head brunette. Whom slept with me later while they were still dating. I am just a little bit spiteful."

"Damn, I didn't know you had it in you, Seifer."

"You'd be surprised what I've done in my life. So how about you, first time you fired a gun?" Stick to the familiar, stay off topics relating to his love life.

"Eight. Dad said I should learn, had one of the grunts working below him show me. I've gotten a lot of practice since then. First magical artifact that you stole, if you remember"

Well that was fucking depressing, "I do, actually. Manufactured nethicite, before anyone had heard of the stuff. Figured if I was going to break the law I should do it right. First time you considered trying to get out of this life."

"Fourteen. Had to shoot a man dead to prove my loyalty to the family," Hayner said, then paused to think while Seifer decided that this was essentially the _worst game ever_, "Your favorite part of your job. Could be a process or a specific event."

He had to stop and think his answer over carefully. The truth was always an option, that he loved what they had right here; getting to know the people on the other side of the coin, seeing that bit of light managing to survive in darkness that should have consumed it long ago. Or that he liked trying to rescue, protect, and fix people like Hayner, because it physically hurt to watch decent people suffer just because they were dealt a shit hand in life. Or that he liked being able to hide behind a badge when he killed evil people. All of them were true reasons why he kept pushing on even when the job threatened to bring him to his knees, but they were maybe a little too revealing.

But that's how this game worked, "I love being able to find people like you out there, people who manage to keep their heads above the water and strive to be good even under the weight of the sins they've committed to keep themselves alive. I love helping them, pulling them out of the mire they're in so they no longer have to perform evils just to avoid being destroyed. And I like that when I pull the trigger on someone who hurt other people and leave them to bleed out in a gutter, the law will always be behind me."

The sandy-haired man was silent, expression contemplative. The other just waited until he seemed to have processed all of it, then spoke again.

"We can stop if you want."

"You've just run out of things you want to know that won't make me clam up."

"Nail on the head. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"But pinning me to things is absolutely kosher? I mean so far you've pinned me to the floor twice, and a car door and brick wall once each. You seem to have a habit of using your physical strength to get a point across."

Seifer frowned, "I asked you if it was okay the last time, and the first time didn't really leave me much choice."

"I'm only jerking your chain. It doesn't really make me that uncomfortable, I understand why you do it, that's just how you express yourself. It's just odd, maybe a little kinky."

The blue-eyed man spluttered before falling into a fit of laughter, the other joining in quickly. Once they settled down Hayner went back to his salad, managing to finish the entire portion. They sat in silence for a while, the smaller man lighting and smoking two cigarettes. He seemed to smoke a lot more when he was stressed, or right before something important. At the very least the color was starting to return to his face now that he had eaten.

"Feeling any better?" The scarred man queried, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his thighs.

"A little bit, yeah. The pain's almost gone, at the very least. You know any curative spells? Specifically one that could remove blind from someone."

"Yeah, I've dealt with it enough that I've learned a few spells I can pull off without a mana source. Always had a bit of a knack for it."

An understatement, he'd been able to use magic from a young age. It was a rare trait these days, most people having to spend years using materia and working with magicite to even cast a simple spell without them. Somewhere along his bloodline there had to have been someone with the genetic capacity to carry some of the excess mana that moved in their atmosphere within their bodies, and the genes just happened to manifest themselves with him. He wasn't anywhere near Sorcerer territory according to the ranking system, but he was a fairly well-rounded as far as the spells he could use.

"You have a rank to go with that knack?"

"Adept. Had to be tested several times throughout my life. I've gotten a little better because of my high exposure to magical artifacts, but let's not tell anyone that. I really don't want to be upgraded to High Adept."

"Because then you'll have to wear a monitor to tell them how often you use your powers. I always thought that was pretty damn discriminatory."

"Cloud and Zack both count as Sorcerer rank, but neither were born with anything beyond Novice level abilities. That experiment they were in changed that. The ranking system is set up to seek people whom heighten their abilities artificially for the sake of becoming powerful. Not that those two chose it, but it's a good example to show it can be done."

"True. I guess that would cause some havoc if left unchecked. So, I assume you can use anything that falls into your hands, including summons?"

"Yep. I can use Ifrit without an artifact, and can use most black, green, and white magic without one as well. Arcane and time magic is harder since they're so rare, I'm not really familiar with them, and the other summons I need an artifact for."

"That's pretty damn impressive, honestly. I suppose you have a higher affinity for fire then, if you can use a fire summon without aid."

"You've got it. I smoked for a while when I was younger. Never needed a lighter."

"That had to be convenient. When'd you quit?"

"Two years ago. Couldn't exactly expect the force to trust me if I used my abilities for something as pointless as lighting up. Besides, it seemed like as good a time as any."

"You couldn't have just used a lighter? Not that I'm saying you shouldn't have quit, but that seems like an odd reason."

"Tried once. Think about what might happen if someone with a high affinity for fire came into contact with an open flame and a fuel source. It exploded in my hands, and I was left holding a fireball. It didn't hurt me, of course, but it was really hard to explain away."

"I suppose that would be."

"So, do you think Zack will be blinded? Is that why you asked if I could remove blindness?"

"They blind all the fighters when they're not in the ring. Keeps them complacent. Zack seems to have heightened senses, so they keep him chained up as well. I have a way around that, but at least I know if all else fails you can just melt the metal."

"I could send the whole place up in flames if you wanted, but I feel like we should save that for later," Seifer paused, "Gods, I sound like Axel."

"Roxas's boyfriend? He's a fire Adept too, isn't he?"

"So you know about him? Yeah, except he can't use any other black magic, and he only knows a few white magic spells. He can use more fire summons without artifacts than me though. Has a penchant for just burning down everything."

"Actually, a lot of the Turks are Adept-level magic users, come to think of it."

"Like I said, magic is almost impossible to pin down to a specific person, so magic users are perfect for killing people stealthily and just generally giving criminals a hard time."

"I guess so. Except for summons, those are pretty easy to trace, since there are so few people who can use them and even fewer artifacts that can summon them."

"Yeah, but I carry a few around on my person just in case. Sometimes you just need to fuck shit up and fuck it up good."

"Which ones?"

"The rarest ones I found in my days as a trafficker. Stuff I couldn't allow back into the market. It turns out the more powerful they are, the more concentrated and smaller the artifact becomes. Sometimes massive chunks might have a good summon in them, but the best ones are small," he explained as he pulled a necklace from under his shirt, two red gems less than half an inch in diameter held in an intricate silver pattern, "Ultima and Zodiark."

Hayner couldn't hide the shock on his face but it was really the only appropriate reaction. The only other person he knew who had artifacts that could summon the two almost-gods was Cloud, who found them himself in a mana rift. They were unbelievably rare and ridiculously hard to control. He'd carried them for two years before they finally relented and obeyed his summons. Scions of their level didn't allow themselves to be used by anyone they deemed unfit, they had to test a person's heart before they obeyed. Apparently, despite everything, he'd passed.

"Ever use them?"

"Once. We fell for a trap a couple of months back, it was me, Roxas, Axel, Fuu and Rai. Well technically I was off-duty and just tagging along on my own time, the okay for me to go on duty didn't come until after the whole fiasco. We got pinned down in a firefight in an abandoned building. Fuu was bleeding out on the floor from two shots that got her in the leg, Roxas lost consciousness when they shot a beam down on top of him, and Axel was busy trying to rescue Roxas. I figured it was either risk summoning them or die for sure. They completely trashed the place, brought the whole building down, but they were nice enough to carry us out of the blast. Of course, their mana burst was off the charts and the radar over the city went nuts.

"Most awkward post-mission debriefing I've ever experienced, had to convince them that I had no idea that the necklace housed two of the most powerful entities on the planet, and that I had summoned them by accident in my desperation. Throw in some bullshit about the necklace being a family heirloom, point out that I'd technically done nothing but save everyone's asses by using it, mention that I am currently the only one that could possibly use them, and they were left with no choice but to allow me to keep them. Luckily they didn't notice I'd killed a dozen people while not officially on-duty."

"Ever get the urge to just unleash them on the city with instructions to destroy anyone they deemed to have evil in their hearts?"

"Every day, really. But I'd rather solve things my own way. You can't fix violence with more violence. You know, besides the fact that I would be so beyond fucked if I did that. Maybe it's selfish, but I'd rather go the route that hopefully keeps me out of prison."

"I don't think you're selfish for that, and I really don't think destroying everything would fix much either. Unless we prove that we can destroy the mafia legally, there will just be more evil men to fill in the empty spots left behind. I mean, I could easily just plant bombs in every safe house and blast everyone into oblivion, but I don't for a similar reason. I don't think it would really solve much."

"You're pretty thoughtful for someone your age. When I was nineteen I would have just smoked the place in an instant."

"I've only managed to stay alive this long by being devious and underhanded. It pays to be subtle. Speaking of which, we should get going. It's a twenty minute drive to get there, and I'd rather not be late."

"Your driver is already here, I imagine?"

"Of course. I informed him of his schedule yesterday."

"You're always one step ahead."

"More than one step, Seifer. Much more than one."

The way Hayner said it made it seem like a piece of the puzzle he was trying to solve, so he stored it away to analyze later before following his companion out the door and down to the main floor, going out the front door. They rode in relative silence, the younger blond tense and apprehensive. The building they entered was largely nondescript, in the older section of town made largely of brick buildings four stories or less. They were greeted outside the front door by a black-haired man who took them around to the other side of the building, where they entered a dark stairway.

* * *

><p>"So, why'd you decide to show up today, Mr. Corneo? You don't usually frequent this side of town."<p>

Hayner involuntarily twitched at the name, right hand clenching into a fist. Seifer's hand immediately rested on his shoulder, the older man's presence at his back calming.

"My new bodyguard here was just interested in the arena scene. Wanted to meet the Wolf, if that's not too difficult?" He sounded angry, but that wasn't going to be suspicious, he could easily play it off as just being impatient or in a pissy mood.

"Sure thing, boss. Right this way. He's not very talkative, but you seem good at working with dogs, so maybe you'll have better luck," the man leading them said, glancing snidely at Seifer. Gritting his teeth, the younger blond barely resisted just putting a bullet through the man's groin. The hand on his shoulder tightened as if to remind him that this was not the time for such petty thoughts.

They traveled further down the darkened corridor, the area most easily likened to an old prison. Each cell had a single door with a small barred window, and each one was numbered. There were few lights on the main walkway, inside the cells there were none. They stopped in front of cell seven, the man unlocking it and allowing them inside. Blue eyes that glowed in the dark flashed up to look at them even though the man couldn't see.

"Give us a moment," he said to the arena worker, the tone of his voice indicating it was an order rather than a request. The man stood a little straighter, backed out of the cell and waited by the opposite wall.

He walked slowly over to the chained man, who was sitting on a thin bed low to the ground, the only piece of furniture in the area other than the toilet and sink. Leaning over, Hayner gently placed a hand on the man's extremely tense thigh and put his mouth right next to the Wolf's ear.

"I'm not sure if the name Zack Fair means anything to you, but I have reason to believe Cloud Strife might ring a few bells," he whispered, fully aware the man could just reach up and snap his neck before he even saw it coming.

A sharp intake of breath and the fighter's entire body jerked just a little bit before he whispered back, "He's my other half. I need to-"

"I know. He's waiting for you outside. I need you to listen carefully and do things exactly as I say, and you can spend the rest of your lives together. Understood?"

A nod, the man relaxing once he knew he was around allies.

"My friend is going to remove your blindness, and I'm going to have the man that came in with us unlock your bonds. As soon as your hands are free, I need you to snap his neck like a twig, don't even give him time to open his mouth to scream. After that, we run, Cloud picks you up, you ride off into the sunset. Got it?"

Another nod, Zack's eyes moving to where Seifer was standing, somehow knowing exactly where he was. Hayner backed away and gestured to the detective with his left hand, the scarred man mumbling the words to a spell before finishing, recognition appearing on Zack's face as he blinked a few times.

"Hey, can you unchain him? I'd like to see how he stands up to my bodyguard here."

"We're really not supposed to-"

"What harm could it do? He's blinded, not like he could escape, and you have wards on him to prevent him from using magic. Besides, all of us are armed, we could stop him if he tried. Don't make me make that an order, I'd hate to tell your boss that you refused me a request."

He made sure to make it clear that he was not going to take any bullshit. The black-haired guard paled a little and walked into the cell, key working the shackles on Zack's legs, then his wrists. loose. Before the manacles had even hit the floor the man was dead, the blue-eyed fighter moving like lightning as he twisted his captor's head around in one deft movement. Seifer looked out and motioned the all clear, and they took off towards the exit. They made it outside easily, the man they'd rescued squinting against the harsh light.

"This way," Hayner said breathlessly, grabbing Zack's wrist and pulling him through the back alleys towards where Cloud should have been waiting. The sandy-blond let go when they came out the other side, stopping to look for the mercenary. Naturally the black-haired man had already found his counterpart waiting down the street a bit, leaning against a massive black motorcycle.

"Cloud?" The fighter with mako-blue eyes began, walking towards the spiky-haired blond. The latter jumped slightly at the sound of his name, pulling his goggles off and stepping away from the bike.

"Zack? Gods, it's really you."

Cloud stumbled toward him and they crashed together with the force of two trains colliding, embracing tightly. Their faces were wet, and they must have had a lot to say to each other, but they really needed to get the fuck out of the area with more immediacy.

"I hate to interrupt, but unless you get out of here right now, you're going to end up on the wrong end of the mob's guns. Cloud, contact Tseng about getting Zack some identification, and I'll text you later because I need a tiny favor that you can easily handle."

"Anything you want, Hayner. As far as the reward-"

"Do not care. Get out of here. Seriously, I didn't do this for the reward, just go live your lives and be happy. I've gotta get back and explain this away, take care," he said to them before turning on his heel and walking away, very nearly running into Seifer. The scarred man followed close behind, silent. It was the sort of searching quiet that told him the other was thinking, putting things together and taking them apart again until they made a picture. The sound of a motorcycle engine faded into the distance, and he finally let himself relax.

"So that was fun, huh?" He said uneasily, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag as he came down off the adrenaline.

"I have to admit, life with you is anything but boring. So how exactly are you going to explain the escape of their best fighter and the death of one of their men?"

"Watch and learn," the smaller blond answered cryptically, leading them back into the dark basement. They walked down the corridor going the opposite direction until they turned a corner and came to what appeared to be a front desk of sorts. The man behind it looked up from his computer and smiled with an impressive amount of false sincerity.

"Sir, how are you? Is something wrong? You look troubled, and a little out of breath."

"The Wolf killed your man and got loose. We tried to go after him, but we lost him."

"What the hell happened?" The man behind the desk stood, face beginning to turn red from anger. The detective behind him gravitated ever closer.

"Your man was taunting him in the cell. Removed blind from him and went on about how he couldn't do anything. Unlocked his bonds to show that there was no way the Wolf could escape even if he did get out of the cell, can't get away from the mafia you know? Wolf broke his neck and took off. Have you seen the way that guy moves? But still, I think you need better staff down here."

"Fuck, I knew that guy was an idiot. Gods, this bad. I'll get a team out to try and track Wolf down. I trust you're unharmed, Sir?"

"Never touched us. He just wanted out as fast as he could go."

"Fine mess that idiot's caused me. You need anything else, Sir?"

"No, I think we've had plenty of excitement for one day. I'm heading back to my suite. Good luck fixing things up."

Still his companion was silent as they entered the car outside and headed back to the hotel. It was unnerving, usually Seifer did a better job or relieving the tension when he sensed it. Hayner supposed he was merely deep in thought and left the man to it. In the meantime, he texted his request to Cloud.

-_If summon appears or major magic is used in the next three weeks, you report it as your fault_-

The pair would still be on the road to the city the mercenary lived in, so he wouldn't expect a reply till later, but it was best to do it while he still had it on his mind. He hoped the two of them would be able to recover from the years of separation, and in Zack's case, years of imprisonment. He'd done his best, it was up to them now. They reached the hotel without the other ever speaking, though the older man stayed close enough to his companion that he couldn't have been zoning out.

His side ached something awful, the run earlier doing nothing to help it, the painkillers having worn off at some point, or maybe just no longer powerful enough to override the pain. It wasn't so bad he couldn't handle it, but he would have to take some more meds soon if he was going to be of any use today. The detective sat on the couch, still making no indication that he was going to speak, so Hayner headed into his section of the suite to down some more pills. When he returned the other was still lost in thought. He sat down across from the older man silently, content to just watch the other's thought processes.

* * *

><p>Seifer knew he was being uncharacteristically quiet, but he couldn't help but remember Axel's story at the station after viewing the callous way Hayner dealt with the man who was helping keep Zack Fair in a cage. It was the simplest way, and possibly the only way, but still it seemed as if the brown-eyed man hardly even acknowledged the loss of life. But then, he'd been taking lives to protect others for most of his life.<p>

_No more than half an hour after Reno left, his younger brother decided to grace the scarred detective with his presence. Just starting to absorb the information in Hayner's file, the blond was more than a little irritated at the intrusion. _

"_So you're going to bother me to tell me how amazing Hayner Corneo is, right?"_

"_You got it, Almasy. I guess Reno's already related his bit. Around the time I hit twenty-one, when I had been dating Roxas for a year or so, I was pegged as a possible recruit by the mob. A cop to turn dirty. Started shadowing me every day. You know me, always a little quick to anger. So one day I light the guy on fire. Just on his sleeve, but man he was pissed. So I run to where I'm meeting Roxas that day, hoping I've managed to throw him. I come up to Roxas talking with some kid, looked to be seventeen or so. Didn't think anything of it until the guy caught up to me and referred to the kid as 'Sir'._

"_So Hayner asks the guy what the fuck he's doing, doesn't like the answer and tells him to back off of me indefinitely. My shadow refuses, and Hayner just pulls out a gun and shoots him square between the eyes. Told me to take care of the body and thank him later. Don't underestimate the lengths Hayner will go to in order to protect decent citizens. He has no respect for the lives of the mafia. I'm not saying he's going to hurt you, just don't be surprised if his little schemes involve killing a lot of his subordinates."_

"_Thanks for the insight, you can leave now. I'm sure you have something important to light on fire."_

"_Don't be too rough with the kid, Seifer. Push him too hard and he's gonna break. Got it memorized?"_

"_Yes, whatever. Get out, I have work to do."_

_As the second redhead left, the remaining man stared at the file in his hands. He wondered just how fucked up this kid was, if he was offing people without much thought so young. Product of his environment, of course, he probably didn't give a damn about anyone's life but his own. _

Of course, his original assumptions had been far off the mark. While his charge was pretty fucked up, he cared very little about his own life in comparison to the lives of others. But Axel did correctly guess that Hayner might treat the other members of the mob as expendable. He supposed they technically were, but still. It was something to note and watch.

"So are you going to say something any time soon, or am I going to have to find something else to do for the rest of the day?"

He started at the voice of the subject of his thoughts, guiltily realizing he'd said nothing since they left, "Sorry, just thinking. Your injury is bothering you, isn't it? You were limping. Anything I can do to help?"

"Don't make me do anything else today?" The younger man asked hopefully, laying down, kicking off his shoes and relaxing on the couch adjacent.

"Of course not. I'm not going to push you to do anything you're not up to doing. We aren't going to accomplish anything by making you bleed again."

"Not yet anyways."

"Hayner…" The detective shot him a warning, tired of all his fatalist bullshit.

"Sorry. Is there something wrong though? You were quiet for a while."

"Nothing. Just wondering where the two of them will go from here, what it had to be like for Cloud to find out his lover was not only alive, but standing right in front of him."

"It might be hard for them to just continue where they left off after everything that's changed, but I think they'll survive starting over again. Cloud wouldn't search for a man for so long just to let him go so easily. And Zack still loves Cloud; it seems like his feelings were unconditional. They'll make it work. I'm pretty sure Cloud would have fallen to his knees if it wasn't for Zack holding up back there. I can't begin to imagine what that was like."

"Here's hoping you're right, maybe Cloud would be a little less pissed off all the time if he had Zack to balance him out."

"Either way, we did all we could. It's up to them now," the younger said with finality, wishing he could just take a nap. Maybe for the next week or so.

"We should take a couple of days off from doing much of anything. You're not going to last moving at this pace."

"Sure, whatever. I could have Kairi and Namine over or something. It's been weeks since I last saw them. I'm sure they'd like to meet you."

"So long as we're not leaving the hotel, I'm fine with it. Keep in mind you don't have to entertain me every day. I am capable of handling myself if left to my own devices."

"I'm sure you are, but you have to remember I rarely have pleasant company. I spend most of my time by myself, so I'd much rather entertain a guest than hide in my room like I usually do."

The other made a valid point, though it was a little sad to think he spent most of his days alone cooped up in a penthouse suite with nothing to do until nightfall. The phrase 'it's lonely at the top' came to mind. Though it would explain why he slept most of the day and was up until near dawn, the only time he could really go out onto the streets without being watched was late at night.

"Well I'm not complaining. Of all the people I've shadowed you're definitely the most exciting."

"You're just lucky you can even keep up."

The younger blond rolled over so he was laying on his back, pulling one leg up to form a right angle at the knee and letting his left arm drape off the side of the couch, the other resting on his abdomen. He relaxed, dark eyelashes resting on his cheeks as he dozed off. Hayner seemed to be falling asleep much too often and Seifer had half a mind to raid his medicine cabinet to see just what the man was taking, but he knew it would be a grievous trespass on the other's privacy. He'd ask later.

For the moment he strode over to the window, watching the city again. It was calming, seeing all the people down there just living their lives. It reminded him that even with all the people destroyed and corrupted by this town, it still kept moving, kept surviving. There was hope for the young man sleeping on the couch, if a city like this could still struggle ever forward even after being brought to its knees.

Hayner woke up a few hours later, the doze having turned into a decent-length nap. Groggy and confused, he very nearly fell off the couch trying to get up, and the detective couldn't help but laugh, earning himself a glare framed by a blush.

"You should stop taking so many painkillers, they're dragging you down."

"I would lay off if I could so much as move without them."

"Let me help," Seifer offered simply, moving to stand next to the sitting teen.

"Don't need your help," the brown-eyed man returned, reaching an arm up towards his companion regardless. The larger man took his hand and pulled him up, placing the arm over his shoulder, letting his other hand rest on Hayner's hip for support. He was tense, but they moved towards his room at a fairly decent speed considering how much his injury was bothering him. He sat down on the bed and sprawled backwards, apparently content to just lay on top of the blankets.

"Call me if you need help, I know Tseng gave you my number."

Flinging an arm over his eyes, the smaller blond grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a half-hearted 'go away'. Trying his best not to smirk, the detective retreated into his own part of the suite. He couldn't help but notice there was an entire area branching off each of their recreational rooms that was unused. He supposed there were more, smaller rooms, since most suites were intended to house more than one or two people.

He started filling out a report of the past three days in a document on his laptop, the more he got done now the less he'd have to deal with at the end. An hour later he got a text from Hayner, a simple 'thanks' and nothing else. His lips quirked into a small smile and he would have texted back but he had a feeling the other was going to sleep. The detective kept working on into the night, waiting until a time he knew Tseng wouldn't be overly busy to call and ask how things were going. By the time he tapped the number of his boss on speed dial it was around ten at night.

"Hello Seifer. You're going to have to explain to me how our mutual friend managed to find a man you've spent nearly all your time on the force looking for in under a day."

Really a great way to open up a conversation, "He had access to resources I did not, Sir."

"I was kidding, Seifer," the other deadpanned.

"As always Sir, your sense of humor eludes me."

"I assume you're calling for an update on the Zack Fair case? I've already reported him as found and given him the proper documentation. He shouldn't encounter any further problems with the law. I have extended an offer for medical services, but it was declined. I have little doubt Zack will recover well enough on his own."

"You speak as if you knew him personally before he disappeared."

"I did. You may recall that he was part of a special-ops team? I was their coordinator."

"So you felt partially responsible for what happened to him and wanted it fixed. And that's why you've kept this case open long after he was assumed dead."

There was a minute pause on the other line, if it was anyone else he would think the connection had been lost, but he was fairly used to it with his boss, "You would not be incorrect in that conclusion, however my interest in this case was nothing more than professional curiosity."

"Of course, Sir."

"How are you faring with the project? It's clear you've already made considerable progress, but there are also things not so readily apparent from so far away."

"He was caught by a stray bullet the first night during a meeting with the target. The assailants are as yet unknown to me, though I suspect he knows more than he's letting on. I've stitched the wound closed, but the activity is impeding its healing. I suggested we stick around the hotel for the next few days until he's properly recovered."

"Continue as planned then, don't allow him to push himself beyond his limits. I'm sure you're already aware he will destroy himself if left unchecked."

"Understood Sir, and yes, I know. He's coming out of this alive, whether he likes it or not."

"See to it that he does, Seifer. Good luck."

A click and then nothing but silence on the other end, signaling the end of the call. He set his phone back on the nightstand and set to cleaning his guns. It was a process he went through every night he didn't pass out immediately, taking them apart, cleaning each piece, and reassembling them. It was unnecessary of course, but it had become ingrained in his daily routines, not doing it seemed a ridiculous notion. He'd stripped off everything but his faded jeans a while ago, he usually felt more comfortable relaxing in fewer clothes.

Once he was done he texted Fuu and Rai a goodnight message and walked out into the main area to stare out at the lights of the city. He was fairly certain he wasn't going to grow bored of the view any time soon. His flat was on the second floor looking out over the sea, which was beautiful, but this was a nice change of pace. It gave him a chance to think, a respite he seemed to need a lot more in the past few days.

The smell of cigarette smoke alerted him to his audience, but he remained silent. If Hayner wanted to talk, he'd have to make the first move. He didn't though, just walking over to stand beside his companion, cigarette dangling from his lips. He was still wearing his suit pants and white undershirt, though the latter was completely unbuttoned and rumpled. His hair was mussed and damp, the wavy spikes haphazard; he must have recently showered. It seemed as though he was able to reapply the gauze and medical tape to his wound himself since it was fresh.

"Sorry, did I interrupt you?" The younger man said finally, eyes reflected in the glass openly vulnerable. He'd let down his mask for the moment.

"Nothing to interrupt. Feeling any better?"

"You mean after sleeping the entire fucking day away?" He started, frustrated with his own weakness, "Yeah, a bit."

"Sometimes everyone needs a break. You can't let your mortality upset you. We're all only capable of so much ourselves, and that's why we have to work together to accomplish much of anything."

"And yet time is a beast constantly nipping at our heels, spurring us ever onward. I don't have a ton of time, Seifer."

"You may not have time, but you have me," the blue-eyed man felt the need to kick himself, because that was so terribly cliché.

A smile formed around the cigarette butt held precariously between lips paled by pain, "You're a regular fucking romantic, Seifer…thanks though."

"I mean it. Use me as your sword and shield. That's what I'm here for. I've spent most of my life protecting people with the use of force. I'm a living weapon, Hayner, just like Cloud and Zack. But I can't do anything if you won't make use of that."

"You're not just a weapon, Seifer. You're a person, with thoughts and feelings. I don't want to…treat you as an object to use toward my own means. I'd rather have you as a friend working with me to reach the same goal. You'll have to trust me though. Sometimes I won't be able to tell you exactly what's going on, but you'll just have to trust me that it's for the best."

"I have so far, haven't I? Until you betray that trust, I'll continue to," it was only half-true. He did trust Hayner to a certain extent, but there was still something off about him that kept the detective from blindly following him. He was loyal, but he wasn't stupid.

"You're pretty weird, can't say I'd do the same in your situation. But I guess it's good to know I have your support," he paused, then, "You've been feeding my body healing mana for the past few days, haven't you? I looked at the wound, and despite all I've done to it, it's already starting to seal up."

A smirk, "It was the least I could do. By the end of our two day break you should be fully healed. Be careful though, mana only stimulates the body's natural processes. It's part of why you're tired, though the amount of painkillers you're ingesting is definitely not helping. Don't push yourself, or you'll collapse. It's why I didn't heal the wound outright, your body can't handle that much magic very well. In an emergency I might have to, whether it'll knock you out or not."

Hayner fell silent again, a sad expression on his face. He looked down and away to the right, dark lashes brushing his cheeks as he closed his eyes. Whatever he wasn't saying was tearing him up.

"Are you going back to bed, or do you want someone to stay up with you?"

"I'm not really sleepy anymore, a person can only sleep so much. If you want to go to sleep though, I could-"

"It's fine. I can sleep later."

They ended up playing videogames until seven in the morning, at which point Hayner laid down with the pretense of resting his eyes against the strain, and promptly passed out. Seifer carried him to bed for the second time since they'd met, and in his exhaustion decided that the couch in the main room was comfortable enough to sleep on. He didn't think before he fell asleep this time, was engulfed by darkness seconds after he hit the cushions.

* * *

><p>"You know, I don't usually wake up to half naked men asleep on my couch."<p>

He jerked awake at the words, spoken by a bemused Hayner from the adjacent couch. A light sleeper, he had been coming out of it since the other had sat down, but the sound of his voice was the extra push into consciousness.

"It would be strange if that was a normal occurrence for you, don't you think?"

"Can't say I'd mind."

His lips quirked into a smile that quickly fell back into his old smirk. He was used to this kind of passive flirting, though he wasn't sure the brown-eyed man meant it as anything more than a joke.

"I'll endeavor to do this more often then."

The other turned a slight shade of pink, breaking eye contact to look down at the table. His reactions spoke to how young he was, something Seifer couldn't help but keep forgetting. He was torn between protecting the child that Hayner should have been, and seeing him for the adult he was. He almost felt like he had something in common with the younger blond, the way their lives had been twisted was eerily similar. The biggest difference was that the detective had been able to escape that hell.

"Kairi and Namine will be here in an hour. They plan to spend the night and leave tomorrow afternoon."

"Awesome," he responded with fake excitement, "What time is it anyway?"

"Three in the afternoon. I woke up not long ago myself, don't worry about it," the other added when he saw the guilty look on the scarred man's face. Seifer hated other people waking up before him when they were in the same place, he didn't like allowing others to see him unguarded.

"Thanks for last night, too."

The blue-eyed man nodded, not thinking much of it, then excused himself to go take a shower. Once he was out, he dressed quickly in some clean clothes and slicked his hair back while it was still damp. Absently he noted his mana levels were getting low from the amount of healing magic he was using on Hayner and resolved to drink one of the ethers he'd brought along later.

He returned to the main room to find his companion much like he'd left him, if there were a few more cigarettes in the ash tray on the table. The older man sat back down, this time on the same couch as the other. It was a risky move in this game they played, if his gambit didn't pay off he'd lose a piece. Their shoulders brushed and though the brown-eyed blond tensed for a moment, he calmed and allowed the contact. They stayed like that until a knock on the door roused the sandy-blond into motion, heading toward the door and unlocking it.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice you two," Hayner said as two figures embraced him.

"No notice is too short, if it's you. You know that by now, I hope," the one with red hair replied, her exceptionally bright blue eyes focusing on Seifer almost immediately after breaking the hug. Her sister, a blond, had the very same eyes. If it wasn't for their hair color and very subtle differences in their facial structure he wouldn't have been able to tell them apart.

"You must be Seifer. Hayner said he wanted us to meet you, you must be very important," the blond said, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. She was skilled at lying with a smile like that, it very nearly looked real.

"I can't agree with that assumption. In the grand scheme of things, I'm really not all that important to this operation. It's nice to meet you two though. Kairi and Namine, right? You're going to have to tell me which of you is which, forgive me."

They both giggled, Hayner watching him warily. Naturally, they'd only dealt with men so far, so the other was curious how Seifer would act around women.

"I'm Namine, it's a pleasure to meet you," the blond woman said, hints of a real smile peeking out from behind her mask.

"And I'm Kairi, nice to meet you," the redhead's smile was more mischievous than her sister's. Together he knew they were dangerous, despite their unassuming demeanor. Their eyes were sharper than blades, he was treading on thin ice.

"So, what do you know about us?" Namine asked as they took a seat on the opposite couch. Hayner hesitated, then sat back down next to the detective. The twins reacted, a flicker of surprise on their faces before their expressions returned to neutral.

"You're good friends with Hayner, pretty much the only people he's able to stay in physical contact with that he enjoys being around. You're non-identical twins, which I assume is the source of your slight physical differences. That's about it."

"I bet you're curious about why we have a few different characteristics, but look so similar, right?" Kairi began.

"The truth is, our mother liked to sleep around. We have two different fathers. We're twins, but we're only half-sisters. Both of us took strongly after our mother, but things like my hair color and Kairi's eye shape we got from our fathers," her sister finished.

"Interesting, I never would have guessed. Though it would explain why your mana have a different elemental affinity from each other."

Blue eyes widened then narrowed in unison, a fascinating phenomena. He wondered if they had the same reactions naturally, or if it was a learned habit.

"So what rank are you, if you can sense our mana? High Adept at least," Namine asked, sizing him up with suspicion.

"Just that. If I was a Sorcerer rank it'd be nearly impossible to hide. You're both Adepts, right?"

"Yes. Kairi is water-focused, I'm ice. We don't use a lot of magic besides our base elements, and even those we have to keep quiet about. Freeze someone to death in the middle of summer and it looks suspicious. Though they never did figure out how that man drowned in his shower…" The blond girl trailed off, her eyes holding the promise of murder if he made a misstep. The last thing he needed was another person threatening to kill him if he fucked this up.

"So how are things going so far, are you two getting along? Anything exciting happen?" Kairi asked, seeming genuinely curious.

"He can be overprotective, but I think we're learning to tolerate each other. As far as exciting…I got shot while having dinner with the Don and yesterday we rescued a man named Zack from the underground arena and reunited him with his lover."

"Are you okay Hayner? Who shot you, did you find out?"

"I'm fine, Seifer's been healing me since it happened, and keeping me cooped up so I don't tear it open again. I have no idea who did it, and I really don't care, you know? If they hate the Don as much as I do for the moment we're allies."

"And why did you rescue this Zack? How did you know about him?" Namine queried, the whole situation quickly feeling like an interrogation.

"Seifer, actually. Had been looking for him for a while now. I looked at the case file and recognized him as a fighter I'd spoken to before. I couldn't just leave the guy there when his boyfriend had been searching for him for three years."

"I bet his boyfriend was pretty amazed to see him again."

"You could say that, I didn't really stick around to chat though."

"You're such a sap, Hayner. Always saving anyone you meet. I'm glad you two are at least working well together."

"How about you two, any news?" Hayner asked the twins vaguely, expression intent.

"Balthier and crew landed a pretty big mark last night, I heard they got a few mil worth of magicite, it was being shipped from an archeological dig and they managed to hijack the truck. Your Vaan is making excellent progress integrating into the team. Roxas's cousin out in the islands is getting married to his boyfriend of eight years, about time if you ask me. They set the date of the wedding for the fall, so it won't be too atrociously hot," the redhead said, bright eyes smiling at the last piece of news.

"I think Axel is getting ready to propose as well. Roxas has stuck with him for four years now, I don't think those two are going to split up any time soon," Namine added, a bit of excitement entering her voice. The update wasn't very surprising to Seifer, about the whole station knew the fiery man was going to tie the knot with his boyfriend soon.

"Anything else? You're only telling me good news, and that usually means you have something serious to tell me."

The women hesitated, their eyes meeting in some silent agreement before either of them spoke again.

"Word is the other families are getting restless with the way Corneo is running things, though you probably already knew that because of the anonymous attack on the Don at your dinner meeting. I've heard a few rumors they might be moving in to start causing some real trouble," Kairi answered, eyes downcast. Both of them were frowning and agitated, very real worry etched in their body language.

"Not exactly what I needed right now, to say the least. Fucking morons are gonna make everything more difficult. Thanks for letting me know though."

"We'll try to keep up on the streets and inform you as soon as we hear anything more specific."

"Don't get yourselves into trouble on my behalf, got it? I don't know what I'd do without you two."

"Understood. We won't, we promise. You can't get rid of us that easily," Kairi said, that mischievous smile back on her face. It seemed there was a lot more to them than just being friends and street-ears for Hayner, though he Seifer didn't think they'd do any harm to the detective or his charge.

"So, Seifer, what do you think of Hayner so far? It must be interesting spending all your time with him."

"Definitely interesting so far. He's an insufferable brat most of the time, but I still like him. His bitchiness is endearing."

"I am not b-"

Hayner was cut off by a giggle from Kairi, "Great minds think alike, I believe. We have about the same feelings on the matter."

The brown-eyed man huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, comically attempting to look put-out by their words. It was completely ruined by the smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and it was interesting how much cheerier he got when he was around the twins. The scarred detective was sure some of it was due to seeing his friends, but most of his apparent happiness was a front to keep the women from worrying.

They spent the day playing videogames, the pass-time clearly one of their host's favorite things to do while the sun was still up. The blue-eyed girls slowly drew more information out of Seifer as the day wore on. He was careful with his answers, aware he could probably trust the pair but always wary of others. The sisters spent most of their time together, if the way they tended to know what the other was thinking was any indication. Even their manas pulsed in time to each other. It was a curious thing, he'd never seen it before.

He knew he was pushing Hayner's body pretty hard by feeding it so much healing magic, but he was still surprised when the younger man went to bed at just one in the morning. Resolving to cut back a little tomorrow, he turned to go to his room only to find his way blocked by their two female guests.

"Do you mind if we speak to you, Seifer? It'll only take a minute," Namine said, her fingers splayed in front of her, tips of each finger lining up with its counterpart. A placating gesture, one she probably made unconsciously in these situations.

"Sure, go ahead. I figured you'd have something to say to me once Hayner'd gone to sleep."

"We just wanted to say…Hayner likes you. He counts you as a friend, I hope you understand what that means for him. His trust is precious, and if you break his heart and knock him down again, he's not going to get back up. I'm sure you've noticed, but he's…" Kairi trailed off, searching for the right way to say it.

"Suicidal, depressed, self-loathing, and has a general fear of intimacy with anyone."

"Exactly. He has his reasons, and maybe one day he'll explain it to you, but for now he's in such a precarious place emotionally and physically it won't take much to push him over the edge. So be careful of your words and actions. I know you're curious, but if you're too rough with him, you'll be left trying to pick up the pieces."

"And if you hurt him, suffice to say you'll end up frozen at the bottom of the harbor," Namine said with a smile. He was pretty sure he didn't just imagine the room getting noticeably colder.

"I have no intention of harming him, physically or emotionally. I consider him a friend, and I protect my friends with everything I have."

"You'd better. He means a lot to us, he's gone out of his way to protect us time and again, Hayner's a better man than you or anyone could hope to be. There's a lot of people depending on his success, and even more people who want to see him come out of this life alive. You'll find people willing to help you pretty much anywhere you go, but in the end, you're the only one who can stay close enough right now to stop the bullet that'll end his life," Kairi explained, a frown tugging her mouth down. She spoke as if the last bit was inevitable, as if Hayner being shot and killed was a guaranteed result.

"But no pressure, right? This isn't the first time I've gotten this lecture, I get it."

"I don't really think you do, Seifer. Did you ever question why Tseng gave you this position? You've had nothing to do with the process up till now, and you're fairly new for a Turk. You must have wondered what his reasoning for putting you on the case was. Once you find your answer, then you'll get it."

They left him there, retreating to the rooms branching off of Hayner's side of the suite. Shaking his head, he continued back over to his bedroom, stopping to root through one of his bags and drink the ether he found there. It seemed like everyone was trying to be as cryptic as possible, like there was some pink elephant in the room everyone could see but him. It pissed him off, he hated operating with minimal information, especially when others knew more than he did.

After meticulously cleaning his guns, he toyed with his necklace while he waited to fall asleep, the summons within as restless as he was. Ultima craved justice and Zodiark wanted destruction; Seifer wondered if maybe in this situation those two things were really one in the same. He breathed slowly, calming himself and by extension his summons. The last thing he needed was for them to invite themselves out. More than any other summons, they fucked with his head when they were out, sending their intense emotions through the mana link and essentially overloading his human senses. Last time he was completely incapable of calling them back until they were satisfied with the havoc they'd wrought; he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop them now. He was a lot stronger than he was back then, but against the most powerful Espers on the planet his strength of will held little pull.

The red gems resting on his chest had calmed and gone silent, the beings within content to sleep for now. He knew he was letting the job get to his head if his summons were reacting even out of danger, they fed on his emotions more than his mana and roused when he was angry or scared. Seifer would have to stifle his anger a bit more effectively to avoid waking them up again.

Sleep finally claimed him an hour later, his mind still running mazes trying to piece together the puzzle he only knew half of.

* * *

><p>Hayner woke to two attractive women sitting in their underclothes on his bed watching him, then promptly rolled over and told them to go away. They giggled and shoved at him until he finally gave up on getting more sleep and sat up.<p>

"Seriously, what the heck is with you two? Go bother Seifer or something, maybe he'd enjoy it," the man grumbled good-naturedly. They pouted for a few seconds, but eventually they couldn't hold in their laughter.

"Yes, because unlike you, he's gentlemanly enough to at least pretend to be attracted to us. Though I think you're more his type than either of us are," Kairi teased, her smile wide. A blush spread across his cheeks at her last words, because really that was not fair. He knew they weren't honestly this happy to see him and it was mostly an act, but their incessant cheer was lifting his spirits regardless.

"I'd have to agree, but I don't know either of you two very well yet, so I'm a bit biased."

He looked over to his bedroom door to find the speaker, none other than the detective they were talking about, leaning against the threshold with his arms crossed over his chest. His blush spread, the older man's combination of taunting and flirting still quite capable of making him flustered. Hayner had a feeling that was exactly why the blue-eyed man kept doing it, just to see his reaction.

"Sorry if I'm intruding on anything, I heard you talking so I assumed you were awake. Wanted to see if you felt any better."

"It's fine, we were just making sure he got up," Namine said, neither of the twins seeming to be aware that they were in nothing but their undergarments in front of a stranger. They hadn't been modest in a long time.

"I'm feeling a lot better actually, my injury hardly hurts anymore."

He grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the bedside table and lit one up, not feeling properly ready to face the detective in nothing but a sleeveless shirt and boxers. Actually he hardly felt ready to face the man when fully clothed.

"I decreased the amount of healing magic I'm using on you, you seemed pretty tired yesterday and the point really isn't to wear you down. But I'm glad it's still doing its job."

"I was thinking today we could have lunch together down in the hotel restaurant, if that's not too much trouble," he said, completely ignoring the other's comment just to annoy him.

"Anything you want," Seifer answered with a shrug, unfazed.

"Sounds fine with us," Namine agreed, though he really didn't expect any resistance from the twins anyway. They were pretty good about just going along with his eccentric requests. The detective apparently just didn't give a damn.

"Thanks. We'll go down in an hour, then. In the meantime I have a few calls to make."

They filtered out of his room, getting the hint that he wanted to be left alone. He grabbed his phone and scrolled to his contacts, to where he'd programmed Cloud in, using just his initials. He doubted anyone would go through his phone, but it was best to be safe. Two rings later the older man picked up.

"Hayner? I got your message by the way, was just a bit too…distracted to respond."

"That's understandable, I didn't really expect an immediate response. How are things going for you two, is Zack acclimating well?"

"Better than well. He's still getting used to me as I am now, but overall he's caught up on everything pretty easily. He's not the kind of guy to let something like three years of imprisonment get him down. Though you really should have seen everyone's face when I walked into the bar I live above. Reno was having a drink, catching up with the owner after getting off the clock early, and he literally fell right off the bar stool."

"I can definitely imagine Reno doing that. I've met him a couple of times. So I guess…You know who I am, right?"

"I definitely know of you, if that's what you mean. I don't claim to know who someone is until spending a little time around them. You're the best friend of Roxas, Pence and Olette, you've rescued several of the other Turks from situations that would have ended with them dead, you regularly patrol the alleys of Twilight Town at night helping those in need, and you located and saved the love of my life for no reason other than that you could. I may not know you personally, but I do know you're a hero."

"You really don't know me, if you think that."

"A little piece of advice, Hayner: You've got to learn to forgive yourself. I had to carry the knowledge that my lover was probably dead, that he died trying to protect me, for three years. I know now that he didn't die, but still. I don't know what happened in your past, who you got killed that was so important to you that you regret even being alive, but you've got to let it go. Unless you let yourself live, you're making their sacrifice pointless."

"Am I that easy to read?"

"To someone who knows it, yeah. Seifer's pretty damn good at picking people apart, he may not get it as quickly as I can, but he's going to figure you out soon enough. He's not the type to leave it alone either. He likes to use his ability to read people to fix them, rather than take them down."

"I don't need or want to be fixed. Whatever, I just wanted to make sure you got my message and that Zack was okay. So, I'll talk to you sometime maybe."

"Call me if you ever need me. You've got a powerful artifact on you, I can sense where it is, as well as where Seifer is. If your artifact and his mana signature move more than a few hundred meters away from each other, I'm going to go looking for you."

"You really don't have to. I only needed that one favor."

"Zack would never forgive me if I let you die. He'll be keeping an eye out for you too. We like helping people in need too, you don't have a monopoly on heroism."

Hayner sighed, "Do whatever you want. Just, if we do get separated, go to Seifer first. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let me out of his sight unless he was unconscious."

"Understood. I really don't know what the hell you two are doing working together, but Zack and I are here to help you do it."

"Thanks, Cloud," he said right before hanging up. It seemed every conversation he had with people lately was extremely taxing on his emotions. Everyone wanted to build him up, convince him he was worth something, and it just didn't match up with his self-image. Shaking his head he got up and got dressed, then went out to the main room where the twins and Seifer were already waiting. They made idle chatter for a while, the man with eyes like shards of ice fairly quiet.

They headed down to lunch, taking a booth in the corner of the five-star restaurant, Hayner beside his bodyguard and the twins across from them. Their server was a younger woman with bobbed brown hair and a bright smile. She greeted everyone in the group by name, apparently learning of Seifer from one of his calls for room service. The brown-eyed man had no idea what her name was though he knew he'd been served by her several times, and he sort of felt like an ass.

The chef came out to give them their meals personally, giving Hayner his brightest smile when he told them to enjoy. The sandy-blond man had a feeling he reminded the chef of the man's son or something, the way the cook was always looking at him with such pride and genuinely cared about him. It should have been a good feeling, but the idea that it was meant for someone else kept him from allowing it. Always for someone else.

Except when Seifer touched him or looked at him, it felt different, like maybe the contact _was_ intended for him, rather than him being a replacement for someone else. He put a cigarette to his lips as he mused on that rather frightening thought and was fumbling for his lighter when the detective glanced over and the end lit seemingly of its own accord. He took a drag and considered whether to flip the man off or thank him.

"Thanks for the light."

"You really need to stop smoking," the scarred man returned evenly.

"I will when I no longer have a reason to. So long as I'm in the damn mob I'll continue to smoke."

"I'm holding you to that. Soon as you get out, you're quitting."

"Whatever you want, Seifer," he answered, not really understanding why the older blond cared so damn much about his lifestyle habits.

The chef returned and asked them if everyone was to their liking, the detective asking him if he knew Hayner prior to his stay at the hotel. If possible, the man brightened even more.

"Yes actually. My wife and I were walking to our car after a night out, and some men came out from the alleyway holding guns. Hayner here came up behind them and shot them down with rubber bullets. By the time the police arrived he was long gone, but when he came into the hotel looking for a room not a month later I recognized him immediately. Plus, his late night excursions were a dead giveaway. I guess you would have been seventeen at the time. Wish my son could be a bit more like you, doesn't do much but drink himself to death at parties," the last few parts were directed at the sandy-blond himself, who had up until now completely forgotten the whole incident. He knew he was supposed to say something in reply but all he wanted to do was melt into the floor, the idea that a chef knew what he did at night and probably talked about it to others just terrifying.

"Don't mind him, he's not very good at taking praise," Seifer rescued him, the cook nodding understandingly before thanking him again and wandering back to the kitchen.

"So do you go looking for trouble, or just happen to be lucky enough to always stumble upon it?"

"Definitely looking. I don't have a lot of control over my life, never had. At least when I'm picking fights out on the streets I have power over the outcome. It's completely self-serving, I only do it for the rush. Pretty much just an outlet for my aggression."

"So you don't do it because it's the right thing to do, you do it because you're pissed off and like shooting people," Seifer didn't believe it for a second.

He thought a moment, "Yep, that about sums it up. Borderline psychotic."

"Well as long as you don't start shooting civilians, I'm okay with it. Can't complain that you're doing our job for us without seeming ungrateful."

"You should definitely not tell the others about it, by the way. I really haven't mentioned it to them."

He trusted his companion to figure out by others, he meant Roxas, Pence, and Olette. Just saying their names out loud was taboo for him outside of his own suite. He finished his meal, most of it tasting like smoke.

"_You shouldn't smoke so much, Hay. Can you even taste your food? Whenever I kiss you, it just takes like ash. You're better than this."_

He furiously blinked back the tears that threatened to fall at the memory, the voice of a ghost echoing in his head. A stuttering breath was all it took for the older man to notice his predicament, and Hayner very nearly snarled in frustration. He hated himself for breaking down like this, hated the misguided worry on Seifer's face, hated the way he felt like he was drowning because he seemed to have forgotten how to breathe like a normal human being.

Things blurred, he had the sensation of being dragged somewhere, and the next thing he knew he was throwing up into a toilet in the bathroom. The detective was behind him nervously hovering, unsure of what to do. Wiping his mouth he stood and tried to act like he hadn't just made a complete ass out of himself. He washed his hands and face, contemplating drowning himself in the sink but he was pretty sure his companion would be angry.

Turning away, he started towards the door only to have the older man block his path. Scowling, he tried to proceed anyways and was caught in an embrace he assumed was an attempt to get him to stay put for a few seconds till he calmed down, but which continued on long past that time limit. Seifer Almasy was _hugging him_ for the second time since they'd met. He knew the contact was intended to steady him, knew the man was just trying to help, but he didn't want help right now. Pushing away, he couldn't contain his frustration any longer, didn't even bother holding in the outburst he felt coming.

"Goddamn it, stop fucking patronizing me! I am not a child, I don't need your help, I don't need your false caring bullshit, I don't need your psychoanalysis, and I don't want you to like me. Why can't you just treat this like the job it is? I'll do my work just as well broken as I will whole, so stop trying to fix me."

The blue-eyed man just watched him through his tirade, as if waiting, and when it was over he answered simply, "No."

Hayner tried to form words to express his disbelief, eventually settling on laughing until he was very close to hysterical because the whole situation was hilarious. A man who should by all logic want him dead was set on trying to help him because he was apparently some kind of fucked up saint. He coughed finally and ignored the hot tears pricking at the back of his eyes, pushing away the memories of the last person to care more than they should.

"Ready to go back out there? Kairi and Namine are going to come in here if we take much longer. They're worried."

"They're always worried," he answered dismissively, heading out the door.

"And you give them no reason not to be."

Shrugging, he lit another cigarette and slid back into the booth, letting his mask slip in front of the twins just this once. He didn't want to let them see how much the past still affected him, but he was just too tired to pretend anymore. Later, when the women left the room to head back out into the world, Kairi gave him a look that he knew meant he'd be getting a call later.

"Seifer, are we bad people doing good things, or good people doing bad things?"

The older blond's brow furrowed and the corners of his mouth turned down, but no answer came forth. Maybe he didn't know either.

* * *

><p>The detective rubbed his eyes and rolled over in the hotel bed for about the seventh time, the tension of having things he should have been doing preventing him from relaxing enough to fall asleep. He should have been lurking around Hayner, watching to make sure he didn't freak out like he had earlier in the restaurant. He knew everything was related somehow, but he couldn't put it together yet. The world seemed sideways and backwards and he was way off his game. The brown-eyed blond had thrown him for a loop and somewhere along the line he'd gone from professionally interested in the young man to emotionally invested in figuring out how to fix his life for him.<p>

"Get up, we're going for a walk."

The source of his thoughts was slumped against the doorway to his bedroom, smoke curling from his cigarette illuminated in the moonlight streaming in from one of the windows. His voice was rough, the commanding tone unusual. Rolling out of bed still dressed in a tank top and boxers, he pulled on some clothes, grabbed his guns, phone and coat and followed his charge out the door.

They hit the street and continued through the darkened alleys without the younger man speaking again, though the way he was taking long drags of his cigarettes spoke to his nervous state. It almost looked like his hands were shaking.

"We're starting the operation tonight, and I don't give a shit what you say. There's a safe house this way that has some older records of deals and contacts. They like to keep their stuff scattered, if they had everything in the same place and someone managed to get in they'd be up a creek. But that works to our advantage, since we have all the time and knowledge we need to gather it, and their guards are spread thin. There's a general unrest in the city, so our actions are most likely going to be blamed on rival families.

"There are going to be three people at the house today, the others are away on other business. We kill them, take the evidence, leave. Anything you didn't understand?"

"No, I got it. Don't really understand why you're so restless to get this started, but I'm not going to stop you. Just try and stay out of the line of fire."

"Taking bullets for others is your job, right?" Smoke came out of the younger's mouth in a puff when he laughed immediately following the quip.

"Exactly. You're learning."

"Whatever, they won't be expecting us to shoot them down, so the only bullets we should need to worry about are our own."

"I take it you're not going to use your nine?"

"Of course not, we can't let them live, they'll report back that I'd done it. Besides, who the fuck cares about them. There's no innocent men in the mafia, Seifer. Not anymore."

"I think there might be at least one left."

Hayner looked at him with a measuring expression, immediately understanding what the detective meant. Shaking his head, he carded a hand through his wavy spikes and pressed on through the darkness. Eventually he stopped at a building that looked exactly like the others and knocked on the door.

"What's the password?" Someone said through a small peephole in the door.

"Open the fucking door before I shoot you."

"Fair enough, Corneo boy," the voice returned as the door swung inward to reveal a man in his early twenties, light brown hair and dark eyes. His smile was more of a greasy leer and he reeked of pot and definitely looked the part of a crack addict as well.

"Any reason you're suddenly gracing us with your presence at half past midnight?" A knife danced in his fingers, his tone implying the weapon was more than an idle threat, his eyes watching Hayner like he was a piece of meat. Seifer felt his lip drawing away from his teeth in a snarl as he moved to grip the handle of one of his guns in its holster. The man just sneered.

"You may be surprised to hear this, but not everyone in the mob wants to bow down and lick your fucking boots, kiddo, so unless you have something terribly important for me, I suggest you turn around and leave," and now the knife moved to just an inch away from the younger man's exposed throat, "before I slit your-"

The shot rang hollowly in the building as the body hit the floor, his skull sufficiently ventilated. The blue-eyed man took it as a personal insult that his companion actually looked surprised as the detective lowered his smoking firearm. Once Hayner could actually hear again after having a gun fired right next to his head, they entered the building. The other two were on a couch in the corner, comatose with an array of syringes and needles on the table in front of it. Hayner had pulled his .45 and was just clicking off the safety when Seifer put a hand on the barrel to lower it.

"Don't. You go find the information, I'll take care of these two."

For a second the younger blond looked at him defiantly and the scarred man worried he would be ignored, but the moment passed and he turned and walked further into the building, leaving his counterpart to do the dirty work. A minute of pity and two bullets later, both possible threats had been neutralized. He followed the sound of things being moved to find his charge. It was surprisingly dark inside, few lights on, and he found the brown-eyed man sorting through a pile of discs with a flashlight in his teeth.

"Found it," he said around the object in his mouth, waving a disc in a simple plastic casing. He flicked the light off and headed back towards the main room, Seifer in tow. As they hit the streets again the sandy-blond man trailed his hand along the brick wall that lined their path.

"Thanks for that, by the way. Probably wouldn't have been able to draw and fire before he cut my throat."

The image of Hayner on the cold ground bleeding and trying to breathe around the hole in his throat flashed behind his eyes and his breath hitched at how _unacceptable_ that outcome was. He hated being emotionally invested in an operation, yet here he was again.

"You ever lose someone you were protecting? You act like you do these sorts of operations a lot, I assume even before you became a Turk."

"You really like talking about uncomfortable things, don't you? I've done a lot of these kinds of assignments, yes, and most of them before I joined the Turks. I lost someone once. Was a witness to a pretty important murder case, I was supposed to keep an eye on him for a month. We became friends. They raided the hotel where we were staying, I took four bullets and ended up in a coma for a week, he took two and was declared dead on scene. So don't die on me, I'm not going through that again."

Seifer's hands itched for a cigarette suddenly, this conversation a little too stressful not to have one. He breathed slowly and tried to put it aside. The other man suddenly looked guilty, probably for bringing it up, but with him it was never sure what he was thinking about.

"I might have to put you through that again, there are no guarantees. Sorry."

"You die, I quit. I can't keep losing friends to this job. If I lose more than one person in such a short time it's gotta be my own incompetence causing it, right? I can't keep doing this every day if I'm not even making a difference."

Hayner lit a cigarette and brushed past him, walking faster. His shoulders were tense and looked angry.

"Never quit your job Seifer. Not if I die, not if the next person you guard dies, not if the next ten die. You're good at what you do, and you make a difference every goddamn day even if you don't notice. Don't give up doing what you love because some moron like me got himself killed."

"How about you stay alive so we never have to come to that bridge, much less cross it? Seriously, why can't you accept that you surviving is part of this whole fucking process?"

"Because it's probably not," the other answered, anger tinting his voice red before he turned a corner and disappeared, the sound of feet hitting the concrete quickly fading into the distance before Seifer could locate the direction he'd gone. He swore loudly and opened his phone to follow the transmitter's signal. It was still moving, so either the younger man hadn't yet thought to ditch his cell, or wasn't willing to completely jeopardize everything by preventing his protector from finding him.

Taking off after the signal he wondered at the other's last words, hoped this stupid plan of his didn't involve suicidal heroics or something equally moronic at the end. Seifer would just have to be there to stop the bullet that would end his life, just like Kairi had asked. He hoped Hayner would actually let him.

* * *

><p>AN: Ah, I am so mean to the characters I steal. Lots of character development/exploration in this chapter, hopefully it's not too boring. Hopefully everyone is still willing to stick around for this fic, I'm happy to say I'm making decent progress on Chapter 6, so I was kind enough to submit this one after just a week. Some of you may be confused as to why I bring in certain characters/plot points, but I can assure you everything is means to an end. See you all soon, and thank you so much for your reviews so far!


	3. Constant Chase

Half an hour of running blind through the alleys towards the red dot, Seifer noticed it had stopped moving for the moment. Which meant one of two things, either his charge had finally stopped running, or had dumped his phone. He really hoped it was the former, because he couldn't deal with losing Hayner to the city, even for a few hours. It was funny, six days ago he didn't ever want to see the man, now he didn't want the younger blond out of his sight. He'd really fucked things up this time.

Minutes later he realized he was in the smaller, older market district, nearing the tram tracks. The dot still hadn't moved from its place on the radar, though it was hardly going to help when he was this close to it. He'd just have to look. As he neared an area that was partially fenced off he smelled familiar cigarette smoke, impulsively ducking inside.

"Hayner?"

"Better than a bloodhound. You could have just waited back at the hotel, I would have come back come morning," the teen answered from the farthest corner, cigarette bobbing between his lips in time to his words. In two strides the detective was in front of him with a fist full of his hoodie, pressing his back into a wall. Predictable but effective way of getting him to pay attention.

"Is this okay?" Not really his planned first words, but just because he was pissed didn't mean he was going to do anything Hayner wasn't comfortable with. The other nodded, still glaring at him through the smoke curling from the end of his cigarette.

"What part of don't ever leave without me didn't you understand the first time we had this chat, because I'm sure I could clarify for you."

"I didn't understand the part where you acted like you actually cared."

"I do care, and you know why? Because we are friends, and I like to keep my friends safe, I like my friends to be alive. And if you won't help me by sticking around, then you are a shitty friend. Clear enough for you, or do I need to dumb it down a bit more?"

"What do you see in me Seifer? Why the hell are you trying so hard? Haven't I pushed you away enough yet?"

"Honestly? You remind me of myself before I left the black market. I tried to be noble in ignoble settings too. The only difference is that I chose that life, and you didn't choose this. So it pisses me off that I got out and you didn't. I want you free of this, want you to be able to live your own life for what time you have left, because otherwise I won't be able to live with the guilt."

He blinked, the truth he didn't even acknowledge until now hanging between them. His companion was watching him, expression unreadable, before flitting down to the end of his cigarette. He reached up to grab the smoking object, lowering it to the wall behind him and scratching it out against the bricks.

"Do you know where we are, Seifer?"

"Wherever you lead me."

"That too. It used to be the gang's old haunt. Roxas, Olette, Pence and I would meet here during the summer, on weekends, after they got out of school…Pretty much whenever we could get away. We called it the Usual Spot."

The detective waited a few beats, knowing there was more to the story.

"This is where my childhood began and ended. They never could get the bloodstains off the concrete."

He was looking to the floor slightly to the side of Seifer; though it was too dark to tell, he probably knew exactly where the stains were. The older blond narrowly avoided the urge to follow his gaze, leaning back and releasing Hayner's hoodie. His hand lingered and eventually moved to rest over the other man's heart, which was stuttering under his fingers. The brown-eyed blond was either incredibly nervous, scared, or both.

"You're not going to elaborate, are you? Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, ever. Don't feel obligated to. It's not my business, even if we are friends. So, what was that about not surviving this operation? Why the hell do you want to die so badly?"

"Because I can't fucking deal with being alive when I should have died a long time ago. Why the hell should I have to put up with the pain of staying around when everything would just be easier if I disappeared?"

"People are counting on you to come back. You have friends Hayner, all of them want you to live so they can see you every day for the rest of their fucking lives. I know you have a twisted past and it probably hurts like fuck to have to deal with seeing the faces of all the people who died when they trusted you to keep them alive, but I won't lose you to the past. Friends aren't supposed to die and leave the other behind; we're friends, right?"

"You're…really weird, to get so attached to someone in so few days. Isn't that against the rules for you guys anyways? No getting attached."

"I'd already broken one of the three rules Tseng gave me anyways, so I figured why not go for two or three?"

"What were the rules?"

"Don't get myself shot, don't let you get shot, and don't get attached. I failed the second one on the first night, and I don't like doing things halfway, so I failed the third one too. And at the rate we're going, the first one isn't far behind."

"We're friends, you can't die on me either, got it? That's a two way street."

Seifer laughed, the very idea of them having this conversation ridiculous, "I won't leave you alone, I promise."

Hayner wrapped his hand around the detective's wrist, removing his hand from where it rested against the smaller man's chest but not letting go. Seifer had to fight the urge to hug him if only to keep him from fleeing again, flashing back to the explosive results last time he made the attempt. Brown eyes flicked to the entrance, narrowing dangerously as his other hand moved behind his back to rest where one of his guns was tucked into his waistband, pulling it out and aiming it silently. The older man looked behind him, noting the dark figure hovering at the fence.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you on principle."

"'Cause it's not nice to shoot your best friend."

Both of them recognized the voice and started, the sandy-blond's gun very nearly tumbling out of his fingers. Even in the dark his companion could read the shock on his face. Seifer considered just staying where he was, but decided to let up and step away, still standing partially between the two men.

"Roxas?" Hayner's voice broke on the single word.

"Do you two always have chick flick emotional moments while Seifer pins you to the wall? Because seriously, this is exactly the last thing I was expecting to find here, and I was just going to leave you to it if you didn't see me first."

"Yeah, actually we kind of do, it's just a thing. More importantly, what are you doing here, Rox?"

"I come here a lot after work or when I can't sleep. I'm worried about you, dipshit. Also, you've grown, you asshole."

"Only you would take me getting taller than you as a personal affront. Not my fault you're short," The youngest of them returned, slipping out from behind Seifer to embrace his old friend.

"You sure you weren't followed, Hayner?"

"Positive. No one but Seifer's able to keep up with me. You know how good I am at disappearing."

"Speaking of Seifer…" Roxas trailed off, breaking the hug, walking up to his fellow detective and punching him squarely in the jaw.

"What the _fuck_, Roxas?" Seifer snapped, rubbing his face and glaring at the shorter man.

"That's for letting Hayner get shot, moron. Fuck, can't you do your job just this once?"

"Rox, back off. He did more than enough to protect me. He's doing his job just fine."

"Hay, that's-"

"Don't…Don't call me that ever again. Please Roxas, don't," it sounded like the brown-eyed blond was on the verge of breaking down again, his body language suddenly going rigid.

"Sorry Hayner, I forgot. I'm sorry."

The older detective filed that away as a nickname never to use, though he was curious as to why his reaction to it was so strong. Roxas knew about whatever it was, attempting to place a placating hand on his friend's shoulder, only to be shot down when the teen flinched away from the touch.

"'S fine Rox, just don't…not anymore. Isn't Axel going to come looking for you?" The subject changed abruptly, thankfully straying away from Hayner's immense discomfort.

"No, he's used to it. I've been coming here at night for a few months now. He knows better than to try and stop me. Sometimes I'm here when you call."

Seifer crossed his arms over his chest, wondering when exactly his charge called the other detective, and why. It was a big risk to both of them this close to the operation, and it didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to do something so dangerous just to chat. But then, Hayner was almost always without company for days at a time, hadn't seen or heard from any of his friends otherwise in two years.

"How are things with you two?"

"He seems anxious, but he's probably just worried about me. Pence and Olette are getting along well too. We're busy enough with other stuff to keep us from going completely mad with anxiety. Oh, speaking of which, let me know where and when I should pretend to arrest you. Sometime soon."

"You're just eager to get me in handcuffs, admit it," Hayner teased, the joking lilt to his voice a relief after he so suddenly clammed up.

"Always. Though I guess Axel might get jealous," The spiky-haired man added, tapping a finger against his chin as if weighing the options, then shrugging, "I could handcuff him too later, I suppose."

"Wanna walk with us, Rox? Or do you need to be home by a certain time?"

"Sure, I can walk with you guys. Got a destination in mind, or do you just wander?"

"I know one area we need to stay the fuck away from, but other than that we can go anywhere. Unless you wanted to head back, Seifer?"

It was odd that he'd think to ask the detective, especially considering it wasn't really necessary; he knew that Seifer would do just about whatever his charge wanted to do.

"So long as you don't go running off again, I'm fine with whatever."

They left, weaving their way back to the larger commercial district just as the moon rose high enough to spill its light over the tops of the buildings into the areas below. The oldest among them trailed a few feet behind, keeping a distance from their conversation, but never letting Hayner out of his sight. There were odd skips and missed beats in the cadence of the friends' exchange, evidence of the two years apart. Brown eyes kept flicking back to check on him, as if the youngest of the trio was worried Seifer would vanish while he wasn't looking. Roxas noticed, because the young detective noticed fucking everything when he wasn't busy breaking shit. He and the scarred man were a lot alike, which was exactly why they barely got along, tempers clashing on the job more often than not.

Eventually they climbed a fire escape to the roof of a building and sat down to lean against the concrete trim. The detectives sat on either side of their mutual friend, who burrowed into his hoodie. It was impossible to see the stars beyond the light pollution of the city, but the empty silence above their heads was calming even so. Hayner shivered slightly, breath ghosting out as vapor from inside his hood, and both of them automatically shifted so they were shoulder to shoulder with him. They watched the slow ascent of the moon for a while, the occasional loud car or barking dog failing to break the quiet mood.

"So Hayner. Did you ever decide what you were going to do after this?" Cerulean eyes moved over to watch the addressed, something sad lurking behind them.

"Not really. I mean, I'm hardly employable, I have nowhere to stay and nothing to my name. Actually I won't even have a last name anymore. It's hard to plan when there really are no options."

"You could stay with me, we could take care of you until Tseng managed to forge some records."

"And I'd be imposing on you and Axel. Same if I stayed with Pence and Olette. Neither of your apartments are large enough for three people to live comfortably."

"You could stay with me. I have two guest bedrooms I never use, and it's just me and Griever."

For a moment Seifer had no idea why he said it, but then he realized he meant it; he wasn't going to work so hard to keep his companion alive only to dump him back on streets filled with people who'd be happy to leave him in pieces. It would hardly be a strain on him, it wasn't like he was in any active relationships that Hayner would be a third wheel to. They were already getting used to living together.

"If you're kidding-" the sandy-blond began, looking at him oddly.

"I wouldn't joke about something like this. I'm serious. At least until you find something better, you can stay at my place."

"You're a fucking piece of work, Seifer. Thanks though, really."

Roxas's eyes were staring holes through his fellow detective, before he finally turned back to his old friend and said, "Hayner, you're an idiot."

"What the fuck Roxas, why am I an idiot?"

"You just are. Too much of an idiot to understand if I explained it to you."

"Well you're an asshole."

"No arguments there," the spiky-haired blond returned, smirking. Seifer had the sneaking suspicion that he knew something they didn't, but he put it aside.

"You should head home, Rox. We're going to make our way back to the hotel, I'm kinda tired."

"Sure thing. Don't get killed, Hayner, I mean it."

"Got it Rox."

"Trust me, he's not going anywhere but home," the scarred man added, all of them understanding he wasn't referring to the hotel.

* * *

><p>Hayner still wasn't sure what he thought of Seifer, there was something too easy about all of this. His friendship should have been harder to win, his loyalty was evidence of how selective he was of who he kept close. But then there was something that fit, like it'd be weird if he didn't have the older man at his back. He just wondered if he'd turn around one day and find a knife in it. But then he really wasn't one to talk.<p>

"So I take it Roxas doesn't really know that you've been smoking almost a pack a day since he left."

"No, he doesn't, and I'd rather it stayed that way because he'd bitch me out. He already has enough fuel for his rants."

"How often do you call him?"

"Used to be once a month or so. Recently it's become once a week or more. At like three or four in the morning. Axel's probably pretty close to throttling me at this point."

"Guess that would explain why Roxas looked so tired before I left. Any particular reason you call him so much?"

"It's nice to know there's still someone alive out there who gives a shit. It's stupid, but I worry they're going to die and I won't even know. And I'm just…scared. Of all this shit. I don't want to die before the job is done," he admitted, knowing the other man would figure it out anyways. Lying was too hard anymore.

"I'm here too, you know."

"I don't need your blood on my hands too."

The scarred man glowered at him but said nothing, apparently content enough to just lurk inches away from Hayner's shoulder. They walked back to the hotel without incident, Hayner tossing the disc of evidence on his bedside table before stripping down and crawling into bed. He knew he'd have nightmares tonight, but he couldn't stop from being dragged under into sleep.

* * *

><p>Seifer rolled out of bed to the sounds of his companion having a violent nightmare. Carding a hand through his mussed hair he wandered over to the younger blond's room, finding the door unlocked again. Not that he couldn't have easily just gone back to get his picks and open it, but it was nice that his friend trusted him enough to leave it open. He slipped in, only to find Hayner breathing heavily on the floor, tangled in his sheets.<p>

Kneeling beside his charge, he tentatively placed a hand on the smaller man's shoulder, mumbling, "Hey."

"Sorry to wake you again."

"Doesn't matter. You okay?"

"I hit my head on the way down, but I think I'm fine," he returned, wincing as he pressed fingers to the back of his head. Seifer didn't have to be able to see them in the dark to know they came away bloody.

"It is a fucking miracle you never managed to kill yourself before I came along. You are so high-maintenance, I swear."

The injured man growled something that sounded like a threat and tried to swat the detective's hands away when they moved to heal the wound. At least he was lively, chances were he hadn't concussed himself. Eventually he gave up trying to fight Seifer off and let the scarred man use his healing magic on the back of his head. Hayner's fingers twitched like they expected to be holding something they weren't, and the detective located the pack of cigarettes on the bedside table and extracted one.

"I'm guessing you need to light up after your nightmares?"

"If you haven't noticed, I don't really need a reason to smoke anymore," the sandy-blond man quipped, putting the object to his lips anyways. Ice-colored eyes narrowed slightly as he lit the end, only a modicum of concentration needed for such a simple task.

"The life you live is reason enough."

The light from the cigarette embers was enough to partially illuminate their faces, enough for him to see that his companion was watching him closely. There was an awkward intimacy in everything they did, no matter how they tried to stay distant, they'd end up being slammed right back together again. The detective always reaching out to help, his charge too tired to keep pushing him away. The lines on their professional relationship had blurred, to something not exactly friends but not just allies.

"I think half the reason you're so hell-bent on protecting me is because you're territorial. You don't want anyone touching what you think is yours."

"You're saying I think you're mine?"

"Yours to break and put back together, 'least that's the impression you give off."

"And you're just going to go along with it?"

"You're a fucking freight train man, I couldn't stop you if I tried. And whatever, it doesn't really matter to me, I don't want to keep fighting you over it. You want to be my knight in shining goddamn armor you go right the hell ahead. I'm just tired, Seifer. So very tired."

"Sure you didn't hit your head that hard? You're usually ten times more bitchy."

"You're not going to give up on me, no matter what I say. So it's best to focus my energy on getting through this operation rather than on trying to convince you otherwise. I don't need a white knight, but if you want to be one, knock yourself out."

"You know, you make it really easy to forget you're just nineteen. You're more world-weary than most forty year-olds I've met."

"You're not doing too bad for yourself either, though instead of giving up like the rest of us, you just push harder. Freak."

"Want to talk for a while, or go back to sleep?"

"You are not subtle, ever. I'm beginning to think it's a personality flaw. I'm just going to try and go back to sleep, you can lurk around or whatever it is you do at night."

"Goodnight then Hayner, try not to kill yourself in your sleep."

"I'll do my best, asshole."

Seifer smirked, liking that the other wasn't so far into his depression that he stopped being at least a little bit fiery. Though the whole episode was more than a little troubling, he'd just work through it.

"I know a sleep spell…" he trailed off, the offer hanging in the air between them. Working swing shifts had made knowing it a necessity; though he disliked using his magic as a crutch, he wasn't about to enter a firefight low on sleep.

"If you don't mind," the other accepted the invitation as he got back into bed, voice stiff. His pride was warring with the knowledge that he couldn't keep working without getting some decent rest. Whispering the words to the spell, he watched the other blond fall asleep almost instantly. He returned to his own suite, finding a text on his cell from Roxas.

-_You're an idiot.-_

He knew it related to what the other detective had said to Hayner earlier in the night, but he couldn't figure out what the fuck the spiky-haired man was talking about. It seemed like everyone was trying to be as cryptic as possible. At the very least he had his sandy-blond friend beginning to open up. Or give up, maybe both. It was too damn early in the morning for this. He went back to bed and fell back asleep quickly.

* * *

><p>Something had shifted between them, the lines blurring beyond recognition and Seifer couldn't bring himself to care enough to clarify them. Hayner knew it too, but he too probably realized trying to go back to the way things were was futile. Mutually assured destruction, and they were nearing their final gambits.<p>

"Sleep well?" The detective asked conversationally over breakfast, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah. Probably the first time in a long time I didn't have nightmares…just disjointed dreams."

"So you always have nightmares?"

"Unless I'm sick or really badly injured, and even then they're pretty common. Or, I guess, under the influence of magic."

"You are quite possibly the most depressing person I have ever met," the man with ice-blue eyes stated, only partially joking.

"You're definitely the most obnoxiously persistent person I've encountered, and I hope it stays that way. I'd hate to meet someone who managed to beat you out for the title."

"You probably won't, I'm one of a kind."

"Humble too," the other quipped, a small smile on his face.

"Naturally. So, got any plans for today?"

"There are two places we could reach here on foot to raid. I'd rather not tip my driver off to what we're doing any sooner than I have to. He's a pretty trustworthy guy, but you never know. If we time it right we can hit them both today. One is the old mansion, the other is about twelve blocks from here in the commercial district. It'd be easier if we could just split up, but you wouldn't know exactly what to look for."

"And I'd never let you go by yourself. The whole point of this operation is that I'm supposed to protect you, and that means I'm not leaving your side, even if it would be faster."

The brown-eyed teen made a noncommittal sound, lighting a cigarette.

"Tomorrow I'll call Kairi and Namine to come pick up the evidence to be dropped off at the station. They're the most mobile of my connections, and most of the Turks know their faces."

"It's odd, the way you treat people both like human beings and chess pieces at the same time."

"And you don't?"

"Not as well as you. I suppose you've got a lot of practice. Most people you're playing don't even realize it. It must be hard to lose a piece when you know them personally."

"Which is why I don't lose anyone I care about, I only use people I dislike as my sacrificial pawns. Not every game involves giving up the important pieces. You know you're one of those, right?"

"Of course. I've known from the start. The whole knight thing would have been a dead giveaway if I hadn't. I'm not stupid. I will admit I can't see your endgame."

"Then until you've figured it out you're just another piece in my game."

"That's fine. You said yourself you don't like to sacrifice pieces."

"Are you so sure you're not just a pawn?"

Seifer looked at him, studying his carefully neutral facial expression, already sure of the answer. Hayner only ever killed people in the mob, he'd mentioned several times that he wouldn't hurt the detective and disliked the idea of merely using him without his consent. Besides, his pride couldn't stand the idea that he was just a pawn to the younger man.

"I am. I'm way too strong to be just a pawn, to use me as such would be a waste of a valuable resource, both of us know that. And besides, I like to think you're at least a little bit fond of me, we're friends after all."

"You are altogether too trusting for your line of work."

"Nah. I'm just a good judge of character. You work hard to pretend to be someone else, but I'm trained to see through masks. As little as I know about you, I do know that I can trust you with my life."

The younger man regarded him evenly then shrugged, lighting another cigarette before standing and heading towards the door. His companion followed as they took the stairs down to the ground floor and left the back way. They headed towards the mansion, reasoning it would be a lot easier to pretend they'd been in the hotel the whole time if they could be there by the time someone came looking, which they would after two of their safe houses had been hit in the same day.

They took the direct approach into the mansion, which was more heavily populated, but offered a much friendlier welcome than the last mob hideout they'd been to. Which is to say they got wary stares instead of threats. Hayner seemed to recognize one of the men, who was in the corner of the main room playing cards with some others. There were a total of six people, four in the corner, two having a conversation on one of the couches.

"There anyone else here but you guys?" The brown-eyed man asked, voice hard.

"There's another guy in the basement on the computer, making contact with one of our runners. But otherwise, just us. Any reason you need to know?"

"Yeah. Hey Luxord, you know what to do," Hayner answered, looking at the white-blond man in the corner, who nodded and smirked before whipping out two knives and driving them through the skulls of the men to the left and right of him. Both the detective and his charge pulled their guns at the same time, making quick work of the remaining three.

"You're moving early, Hayner," Luxord said as he picked his way out from the bodies, after scooping up his winnings from the hand.

"We're running out of time, I'm sure you've heard the rumors."

"Which ones? The one about you being shot, or the one about other families trying to move in on Corneo's turf?"

"The latter, the first isn't just a rumor. Anyways, you've heard of Seifer, I'm sure. Seifer, this is Luxord."

"Pleasure's all mine kid," the bearded man greeted him with a lopsided grin, "You're one of Tseng's favorites, I remember him mentioning you. I've been working undercover here since before you became a detective."

"For some reason I highly doubt Tseng has favorites, he doesn't betray any kind of attachment to us."

"Well, all the Turks are his favorites, but he thinks you have potential, and that's pretty much the highest compliment he gives. You're just not paying attention, watch how he treats normal cops and detectives from other stations and you'll see that he adores us, in his own special way. You're all still alive after all."

"We can chat later, let's take out the guy in the basement and get what we came for before he catches on that he should delete everything. There's no way he didn't hear those gunshots."

"Got it kiddo. Want me to take the point, or did you have something else in mind?"

"Did you actually remember to bring a gun, Luxord?" The youngest of the trio quipped as they moved stealthily towards the room that held the hidden entrance to the basement.

"Just my knives. You know guns aren't my thing, they make such a mess."

"I'll take the point then, because I'm pretty sure chucking knives at the guy is not going to be very helpful."

"Chucking?" Luxord spluttered, offended, "I'm just as accurate with a knife at twenty paces are you are with a-"

He was abruptly cut off as the sandy-blond moved, in one fluid motion jamming the barrel of his gun into the soft underside of the man's chin and gripping the wrist of the hand that already had a knife pulled. Bright blue eyes stared into brown as they squared off, Hayner finally taking a step back and releasing the undercover detective.

"You're getting sloppy. It's been a long time since you've seen any real action, so just sit back and let me take care of this, okay?"

"Sure thing, Hayner. Just don't get shot so bad that Almasy can't patch you back up."

Hayner was silent, they'd arrived at the corridor into the computer area and he was pressed up against the corner, gun cocked and ready in his hands. He tipped his head over the edge to take a look and a bullet bounced off the corner just as he jerked it back. Seifer had some serious misgivings about letting him take the lead, but he knew when not to start an argument, and when taking enemy fire was definitely one of those times.

"Definitely think he heard us," the teen mumbled, tensing before turning the corner and quickly firing off two shots, immediately retreating back behind the cover. Groans of pain echoed through the metal corridor.

"Got him in the leg," the shooter mumbled by way of explanation. He inched back to the edge of the corner, just about to peek around it when a bullet connected with the section of his upper arm that was exposed. He bit his lip and ignored the wound in favor of firing one more shot, followed by a loud splatter and the telltale thunk of a body hitting the floor. Seifer could faintly sense the man's life force leaving him, saying as much before advancing on his injured companion. Blood was winding a trail down the fingers on his right arm to drip onto the floor as he tried to push the detective away.

"Luxord, you mind looking for what we came for while I take care of this?" The scarred man asked while he pinned an uncooperative Hayner to the wall with one arm and started to tug his jacket off with the other.

"Got it. He does bite you know. Just a fair warning," the older detective replied with a smirk before walking over to the disc storage area in the corner.

"Fucking hell, Seifer get _off me._ It's fine, we have more important things to attend to than a flesh wound," he snarled, pain edging his voice.

"Actually I'm pretty sure we don't. You're the most important part of this operation and the last thing I need is you passing out from blood loss," he snapped back, though he did ease off the younger man enough that if he wanted to he could get free. He didn't. The man with ice-blue eyes pulled off his white shirt, the sleeve of it torn and bloody. There was a hole going through the center of his arm just below his shoulder in the back, but no exit wound. Making the whole thing ten times worse, because the bullet was probably still in there.

"Fuck. Hey Luxord, know where I could find some tweezers in this place?"

"Didn't go through? You never make anything easy, do you Hayner? There should be a pair in the first aid kit in the bathroom upstairs. Don't take too long, we don't want to get caught."

"Got it. Find us when you get the discs," he answered as he dragged the injured blond back to the stairs by his other arm.

"You don't always have to baby me you know. This could have waited until we got back to the hotel."

"You're bleeding on the floor, Hayner. You have a bullet in your arm, and quite possibly shards of bone. I'm not babying you, I'm trying to keep you alive. Just shut up and let me help."

"Fine, whatever. Like Luxord said, we don't have a ton of time. People come and go from this area fairly often, if we take more than a few minutes someone's bound to walk in on us. I don't want to risk someone reporting back that we massacred the place. Kind of throw a wrench in the project."

Seifer dug a pair of tweezers out of the kit and grabbed him by his blood-smeared wrist, saying, "So you won't mind if I cut to the chase with this?"

He heated the tweezers to a cherry glow to sterilize them, then used his thumb to pull the wound open, catching the grey glint of metal embedded in muscle and using the tiny metal instrument to jerk it loose and out. Curses were falling from his companion's lips with such speed that he was completely incoherent. Blood welled out of the new damage the extraction had caused, adding to the puddle next to the toilet Hayner was sitting on. It was a small caliber bullet, and the section of the bone he could see didn't look damaged. The younger man was damn lucky.

He stitched and bandaged the wound quickly and cast a few healing spells on the teen, who looked pretty close to passing out as the mana rerouted his body's energy to mending the injury. As he half-carried his young friend out of the bathroom Luxord appeared, two discs in cases in his hand.

"All taken care of?"

"Patched up as best I can for the moment. He'll be fine in an hour or so."

"We don't have that much time. By the way, I hate you so much right now," the injured teen piped up, aggravation and pain coloring his voice.

"Good. Maybe next time you'll let me take the lead instead of trying to use yourself as some sort of bullet shield. I'm not sure how this escaped you, but the whole point of me protecting you is that I get hurt instead of you."

"But _you're _not supposed to get hurt."

What the fuck did that mean? He seemed to be a little disoriented from the blood loss and pain, but not to the point where he'd speak nonsense. Which meant he was probably speaking the truth and letting more slip than he would otherwise. Apparently part of his master plan was that his only bodyguard wasn't going to sustain any significant injury, so he was basically using himself as a human shield. They were definitely having a conversation about this later.

"How can you tell the difference between the important shit and the decoy discs anyways?" He asked, shoving his irritation away for later.

"There are three notches in one of the corners of the casing. Small ones, but if you look closely you can see them. It's so that in the event of a raid they can be quickly identified and hidden, or in the worst case scenario, destroyed, before the cops can get their hands on them," Luxord explained, holding out one of the disc cases he had and pointing to the notches. They were small enough to be easily missed by someone not looking for them.

"I wiped the surveillance data, but it looked like the guy in the basement managed to warn the others before we got rid of him. He got a text back asking if he knew who was attacking the mansion while I was down there. So you might want to hold off for a few days, till they've calmed down."

The youngest man swore and Seifer was already thinking a way around the delay. He wanted to at least hit their second target for the day, but he knew he couldn't do it with his charge in the condition he was in.

"Luxord, think you could handle dragging Hayner back and babysitting him for a bit?"

The brown-eyed blond spluttered indignantly, but the other detective just watched him for a moment.

"Depends, is he going to be conscious?"

"Of course not."

"Then yes, I can. You got somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, you know where the other hideout is, the one twelve blocks from his hotel? I need a more exact address."

"Yep, know the one you're talking about."

The scarred blond nodded before casting sleep on his struggling friend, who immediately slumped forward limply. He handed the sleeping form to the bearded man, who lifted him bridal style and continued walking.

"Sure you can trust me with him? I could kill him and fill in Corneo on the plan."

"You could…But if you were going to, you would have before now. And personally, if it was between pissing off the mafia and pissing off the Turks, up to and including Tseng, I would rather have the mafia after my ass. You seem like a reasonable man, and as such should come to the same conclusion."

"I like you, kid. Try not to die today, I'm looking forward to seeing what you and Hayner can manage together."

"Yeah, me too. Pretty sure dying would fuck up his plans."

"You'd ruin a lot more than just his plans by dying. You really sure you don't want backup?"

"Can't leave him alone without any way to defend himself, and I'm not going to jeopardize the operation by calling someone in from the station. It's going to be hell, but this may be the only chance we really have. Gonna light the place up on my way out, try to adjust the MO so it looks like it's two different factions."

"I'll take him back then, I assume his keycard is in his pocket?"

Seifer nodded, writing down the address Luxord gave him quickly before taking off for the next target. Today was already turning out to be a shit day, and it was about to get a lot worse.

* * *

><p>He bit down hard on his cheek as the first bullet tore through the junction between his right shoulder and neck just before he ducked into the cover of a wall. There were probably a dozen of them by his rough estimate. He'd taken one out before they'd opened fire, but without the element of surprise in his favor, and down one person, it was looking like a long fight. On the upside, his shoulder wasn't hurt so bad that he couldn't use it, yet. Silver lining.<p>

One of the combatants appeared from the other end of the hallway he was hiding in, the hideout appearing to be an abandoned office building. A bullet to the chest brought the man down, another through the side of his skull ended him. He could hear three sets of footsteps moving towards his position and he began a wide-area thunder spell. Three massive lightning bolts shot out of the air around him as the men rounded the corners, two on one side, one on the other. They were dead before they could draw air into their lungs to scream. The smell of charred flesh assaulted his nostrils, bringing back vivid memories of the last time he went up against this many people at once.

Slowly creeping to the other side of the hallway he looked around the corner and saw that it was both empty and covered about half the way down. He knew he couldn't stay in the same place for long when he was so outnumbered. As the only detective on the city's force who didn't have a partner, excluding those working deep undercover, he was used to having only himself to rely on. As he peered out from cover he took down another man who was lying in wait inside an old cubicle, eyes still focused on where the detective had been. Shouts from the others as they tried to determine where he'd moved to told him he still had a ways to go. His ears picked out the words 'destroy', 'evidence', and something along the lines of 'back of the top floor' from among the chaos.

With this target in mind, he darted across the open expanse between hallways and up to the stairs at the back, bullets striking the wall behind him. There was a man waiting as he rounded the corner on the first flight. The first bullet missed, but the second went straight through his left thigh; he would have fallen to his knees if not for bracing himself on the wall as he shot off a fire spell. A quick cure spell mended the muscles well enough that he could continue to walk on the injured limb, but it wasn't enough to completely close the wound. Before he was to the third and final floor his pant leg was drenched above the knee and the blood was slowly making its way down.

Two men came from the other direction and hadn't seen him yet, still moving towards their destination. He started a high-level fire spell with every intent of lighting the whole damn place up once he knew which room to go in. The upside of a fire of magical origins is that it didn't burn the one casting. Usually, anyway. They opened the second door from the right at the end of the adjacent corridor, their screams echoing in the largely empty area as they fell burning. He knew the image would haunt his nightmares but he couldn't risk sparing the time to put a bullet through their brains instead.

Entering the room, he found a small stack of discs next to a computer with contact names and numbers on a post-it note beside the screen. There was something notably unprofessional about this place compared to the mansion, it was much closer in organization to the small area they'd hit the night before. It was easy enough to find what he was looking for with all of them stacked evenly, he pocketed the single disc and turned to find the threshold already engulfed in flames. His hand passed right through the fire and he walked through it unscathed, the inferno still recognizing him as its master. He ran down the stairs, halting at the last corner to glance around it, very nearly taking a bullet in the eye.

After five minutes of exchanging fire all three gunmen were dead and he'd taken a hit to his side dangerously close to something vital. Another cure spell and three fire spells left his lips as he made his way out of the building and moved into a nearby alley. He could hear sirens fading in the distance as he moved towards the hotel. There was no way he could use the front entrance, but he'd never make it up several flights of stairs as injured as he was. Flipping open his phone he found Hayner's number and hoped that it wasn't set to silent.

"Who's this?" Luxord's suspicion-edged voice filtered through the phone, causing Seifer to sigh in relief.

"Seifer. I'm about five blocks from the hotel, coming in the back way. I'm going to need your help getting up the stairs. I'm almost out of mana, and no spell I know is going to fix this right away."

"And here I worried one of those coke-heads had offed you and stole your phone. I don't suppose you've got any ethers laying around up here?"

"I do, in my duffel bag. Shouldn't be hard to find considering it glows blue."

"I'll meet you down there. Don't bleed out on the way."

"Got it," he answered quickly before hanging up.

He was fairly certain the only reason he was even standing was because he was walking with one hand on the wall to support himself. A good fifteen minutes later he finally made it to the door into the hotel, looking back to make sure he hadn't been leaving a bloody trail right to the location. At some point in the process of pushing the door open his injured leg gave, and he would have toppled over if not for Luxord being _right the fuck there_ to keep him upright.

"You are in far worse shape than you made yourself out to be. How the fuck did you make it twelve blocks on foot in this condition?"

"Very slowly," he joked somewhat shakily, taking and downing the proffered ether. Casting two curagas on himself was enough to stop the majority of the bleeding, but he'd be out for at least a day.

"We're lucky you decided to risk it, a message to move everything important was sent out to everyone not long ago. From now on it'll be hell to figure out where they're hiding what we need," the older detective explained as he pulled Seifer's left arm over his shoulders and put his right arm around the scarred blond's waist. They began ascending the stairs this way, the younger blond leaning a little more heavily on his fellow than he'd like to admit.

"That's going to be fun. I assume you're going to have to give up your cover."

"Tseng told me to drop the case and slink over to his place until this all blows over, it's too dangerous for me to stay so close. He's never there anyways, either with Rufus or at work. It's just annoying to give up the case after I've been in here for so long. Doesn't feel right to leave everything to you and Hayner, especially as beat up as you are. If either one of you got captured or killed we'd be well and truly fucked."

"But there's no way you're going to go against a direct order from Tseng. Don't blame you."

"You got it."

They were only on the third floor and he was already struggling to stay conscious, "We'll be okay though. You hear about that thing with Zack? Well he and Cloud are pretty much at our beck and call now, if things go to hell we can count on them showing up, 'least that's what Cloud said when he called me a bit ago. And even without them…Hayner and I make a decent team when he's not being an ass."

"You're both still alive, so I guess you must. Reminds me, I should pull Marluxia out too. He's probably getting restless."

"Wait, the tailor?"

"Yes, the upstart tailor that started a line of extremely expensive menswear with capital that appeared out of nowhere and very quickly found a niche with the mob two years ago. Sounds kind of suspicious doesn't it?"

"Please tell me you're shitting me. Marluxia is an undercover detective?"

"My partner, even."

"By all the gods this is ridiculous. Why did no one tell me anything about this fucking case?"

"There's a reason you're being kept in the dark about everything. Hayner knows everything; you want to know, get him to tell you. Pretty sure he's been trying for a while now, but he's not very good at being direct with people."

"So I'm playing blind because he doesn't want me to know the whole picture? Fantastic. I still don't quite get why you all bend over backwards for him."

"Sometimes when a person spends years making a plan, it's actually a damn good one. This is our only option, we're lucky to have someone so close cooperate with us. His conditions are pretty damn easy to meet when you consider without him we'd be going nowhere slowly in taking down the mob."

"Whatever. I don't even care anymore."

And he didn't, for the moment the only thing he could give two shits about was finding a place to pass out where he wouldn't fall on something hard. They were finally on the floor to the suite and he had just enough time to wonder how long the sleep spell he put on Hayner would take to wear off before he blacked out.

* * *

><p>Hayner woke with a start, disorientation at finding himself laying on the couch in the main room of the suite soon turning to anger when he remembered that his companion had put him to sleep with every intent to go off and finish the job they'd started. Looking around he noted a distinct lack of either Seifer or Luxord and felt the spidery tendrils of worry spread through his stomach. Sitting up, he waited a few moments until the last of the magic cleared his system before standing and making a beeline to Seifer's half of the area.<p>

Luxord was leaning over the younger detective's limp form on the bed, appearing to be just finishing up bandaging the area between Seifer's neck and shoulder. Both his abdomen and left thigh had been wrapped up as well. He was unconscious, but his breathing seemed even enough.

"What the hell happened?" He asked as he walked closer.

"He infiltrated the other building, but judging by how bad he came out of it they had tightened security and were waiting for him. Got the evidence and burned the whole damn building to the ground. Got shot three times, called me to help him up the stairs and passed out from blood loss on the top floor. He managed to heal the worst of it himself, but because of the strain that puts on his body he's probably going to be out for a good part of the next twenty four hours," the blue-eyed man answered as he pulled the blankets over the sleeping man.

"And you just let him go, even though you knew there was a good chance he'd be wounded or killed?" He kept his voice carefully even, trying to keep the worry from slipping into it. Seifer had very nearly died while he was asleep, and though it really shouldn't have bothered him, it was terrifying.

"I'm not his father and I'm not his superior officer, there is nothing I could have done to stop him. Besides, guys like him and I just won't die. Something about our connection with the planet makes us hard to kill. Personally I think he did the right thing, even if he is batshit insane for doing it."

"Any word from Tseng on where you're supposed to go from here?" Hayner changed the subject abruptly, letting his anger at being left behind simmer.

"Yeah, he sent word to hide out at his place for a while, figured I'd pull Marly out too. Haven't seen the fucker for more than ten minutes in two years, I'm sure we'll have enough stories to keep ourselves occupied until everything blows over. I told Seifer about Marluxia, figured it didn't need to stay a secret since we're heading back into normal rotation anyways."

"You call him yet?"

"He's already on his way there. I figured I'd stay here until Seifer's back to full health. Wouldn't feel right leaving you two alone in the middle of this shitfest when he isn't able to defend himself or you."

He wanted to say something about being able to defend himself, then looked back at the state his protector was in and thought better of it, "Thanks for sticking around. And for all the time you've spent with the case."

"Not only is it my job, but it's also my pleasure. You're a fun kid to work with. A little fucked in the head, but fun. I can see why Seifer's so interested in you."

"Wait, what was that last part?" The teen started, wondering where the hell he got that idea from.

"You're so focused on making sure everything stays on track you're missing the important things. He's got serious tunnel vision when it comes to you. The only reason he risked his life today is because you were so damn set on hitting that place. I've read his file, he's not normally quite this reckless. Seifer's bending over backwards to make you happy, so if I were you I'd be pretty grateful for what he did today, or at the very least not bitch him out for it like you're planning to."

Just like that what remained of his anger fizzled out; it was hard to be angry with his friend when the situation was mostly his own fault. Still, he needed to make it clear that knocking him unconscious and running off on suicide missions was not an acceptable form of action in any setting. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it without really thinking about it.

"How's your arm doing?" The older man asked, sharp blue eyes roving over to the bloodstained tear in his shirt and jacket.

"I can use it just fine, that's all that matters."

"So it still hurts then. Let your partner over here know tomorrow when he wakes up. Or I will," the detective added, giving him a knowing look.

"You gonna take the evidence with you when you leave then? I was planning on calling Kairi and Namine to do it, but since you're already here, it would save them the trip."

"Figured it would be the easiest way. Hand it off to Tseng when he gives us his keys."

"I'm gonna tell them to disappear then. I'd rather not have them anywhere near this fucking city while it burns. I have a few other calls to make too."

"I'll wait in the main room. He'll be fine now, he just needs to sleep it off, and I'm not creepy enough to watch him sleep."

Hayner nodded and left to go to his room as he pulled his phone out and dialed the first number.

"Hello Sir, what did you need?" Kairi answered, her voice smooth and business-like. So she was most likely in a public setting. He decided to keep his message short and to the point.

"Go to ground."

"Understood Sir, good luck. Inform us if you need our services."

The line went dead and he sighed, entering the number of the next contact and waiting three rings for him to pick up.

"What did you want kiddo? Hope your boyfriend didn't die in that fire."

"Seriously, stop calling him my boyfriend. It's not remotely funny, Xigbar. And he's just fine, thanks for asking. You might have noticed shit's hit the fan. I'm just sending you a friendly warning that you might want to excuse yourself to parts unknown for a week or so unless you want to get caught in the blaze."

"I'm already on my way out, taking Larx with me, thanks for the heads-up. By they way, they've moved everything to the main weapons cache, and have two teams guarding it. Just thought I'd pass that along."

"Thanks for the intel. Goodbye Xigbar," he said, an air of finality to it.

"I'm sure I'll see you around somewhere, Hayner," the other returned before hanging up.

One last person to call, and he was really not looking forward to the next conversation. Regardless he hit the number on his contact list and waited. Two rings and the other picked up.

"What the fuck did you do? Are you two okay? Fuck man, they found the remains of at least seven bodies in that place you toasted," Roxas started, anger and worry vying for dominance in his voice.

"Seifer knocked me unconscious and moved on his own for that one. Shot three times, passed out shortly after healing the worst of it. They're moving everything to different areas, someone at the mansion managed to warn them before we killed him."

"He seriously took on that many guys by himself? They're still searching through the wreckage, they don't think they've found everyone yet."

"You're talking to the wrong person. He was out by the time I woke up. All I know is what I heard from Luxord."

"Either way things have been compromised to shit. You got a way to fix this?"

"We've got to move ahead faster. Tomorrow I'll call you and arrange a time when we can pull off our skit and draw attention away from me and towards the force, then I'll figure out how the fuck to get to the remaining pieces we need when there are at least twenty guys guarding them."

"You need to call for backup Hayner, there's no way just the two of you can handle that. Seifer may be a decent magic user, but even he has his limits."

"I'm aware of that, Rox. I have someone in mind, but it's none of you guys. Be too obvious if we showed up with a bunch of cops. In the meantime I need you to keep the news focused on the idea of rival families causing all this damage and try to keep an eye on them. It's been too quiet on their end for a long time, I think they're honestly planning something."

"I'll do my best. Please at least try to keep the both of you safe, as much as I hate to admit it, we can't afford to lose either of you."

"I really don't believe you hate Seifer as much as you pretend to. The only reason you two don't get along is because you're both dominant, possessive, and physically expressive. Should try to be nicer to him, maybe you can find something you have in common."

"If we did find something in common we'd fight over who liked it more. Give up Hayner, there's just no hope for us. Besides, we work well enough together that we won't get each other killed, so there's no point in getting friendlier. You however…You treat him as if he's your friend."

"We…kind of are. It's complicated."

"I can't say I expected him to be so nice. Seifer doesn't do anything halfway. He loves and hates, protects and destroys with everything he has. I guess you just ended up on the good side of that coin. Be careful that you stay there."

"I have a feeling he won't hurt me unless I give him a good reason, and even then his fucked up sense of loyalty would probably prevent him from doing so."

"You know, you never told me how you were planning on pulling everyone together where we can arrest them. Won't they get suspicious?"

"You're right, I never did tell you, did I?" He avoided the question meaningfully.

"I remember you were fairly straightforward once. Now…It's like half the time you're a different person. You never lied to me or hid the truth from me before."

Hayner was trying really hard not to just break down and cry, because it hurt so fucking bad to know his best friend barely recognized him; he was hurting his friends by being who he'd become. There was no way to go back to being the person he used to be, that person died a while ago. He sighed carefully and pushed his feelings away.

"Sometimes life changes people, Rox. You've changed too. The Roxas I knew never gave up so easily."

"What am I giving up on?"

"Do you remember the first time I killed someone? You let me stay at your house and kept telling me that it didn't change anything between us and that everything would be okay. It was just about the only thing that kept me from walking in front of an oncoming train that day."

"Gods, Hayner. I'm not…I didn't mean that you weren't my friend anymore, just because you've changed. We've both changed but we'll never stop being friends. I just wish you would tell me what's really wrong once in a while, let me in."

"Fuck, Roxas, everything's wrong. To the point where it's probably best to destroy most of it rather than trying to fix it, before it causes more damage."

"You're…not just talking about the mafia."

Hayner sighed and closed his eyes as he pulled the phone away from his ear, finger hovering over the end call button before saying quietly, "No Rox, I'm not."

He hit the button and shut his phone off, tossing it on the bed. Running a hand through his hair he tugged on it slightly. At least this way all the loose ends were tied up, more or less. He'd block Roxas's number when he could be bothered, he knew it wouldn't take the detective but an hour to finally put two and two together. Steeling himself, he walked back out into the main room, sitting down across from Luxord.

"Everything taken care of?"

"Yeah, as much as can be dealt with right now anyways."

"So where are you going to go from here? The plan's obviously been compromised, but I'd go so far as to say you were counting on that."

"Yeah, I was. It'd have been nice if everything could have gone perfectly, but it's best to assume it won't. Apparently all the information's been moved to a weapons cache and is under heavy guard. The only reason they haven't destroyed it is because they want to find out who's been taking their shit and kill them. And of course because it has information they'll continue to need later. I can't call in the Turks because it'll be way too obvious. I've got some other strings I can pull, but it's going to be rough either way," he admitted, lighting yet another cigarette.

"I could-"

"No. You and Marly have done enough. Besides, don't you want to live to retirement, old man?" Tease and reroute, worked on almost everyone.

"Fuck you, Hayner, I'm twenty-nine. I have decades before I'm gonna have to turn in my badge," he returned jokingly, then became serious, "Besides, you know as well as I that Turks don't retire. They just die."

The younger man looked at his hands sadly, remembering the faces of all the Turks the organization he was born into had killed. He'd tried to save most of them, but he was a kid when they'd been taken out, there wasn't a ton he could have done. Sometimes he wished he'd tried a little harder, even if it had gone badly for him; maybe things wouldn't be such a fucking mess now.

"Is Tseng ever planning on marrying Rufus? Or are they always going to have to keep their relationship a secret?"

"One of them would have to retire. The public would be okay with their Mayor marrying a man, the marriage rights bill passed almost unanimously after that string of couple suicides, but they would definitely not be okay with the Mayor marrying the Chief of Police. Conflict of interest and all that. It'll be Rufus who proposes anyways, Tseng wouldn't do anything to compromise their professional appearance. It may well be time for the Chief to retire though, gods know he's earned it."

"Be interesting to see how that would all go over. Probably will be too far away to really see it though."

Luxord's expression shifted somewhere around his eyes, becoming more piercing. It was disconcerting to say the least, sometimes he forgot that the man across from him was one of the station's best. Seifer's ability to read people like a book coupled with a much cooler head and years more experience.

"You need to work on your poker face, Hayner, you're too easy to read. Unless that's what you're going for? You're trying to warn others without telling them outright. You know Seifer's going to flip his shit if you die, right?"

"Said he'd quit if he lost me. I don't know how it happened, but we're something like friends. I told him never to quit his job, he's good at it, you know? But…" Hayner sighed and rested his cheek on the hand not holding his cigarette.

"He's got one hell of a record. The only time he's failed an operation was when he lost a guy he was protecting, it was before he joined the Turks. Almost died too. It was the station's fault, we were too focused on the mob and spread our units in other areas thin. Twelve assailants. He took down ten guys before he lost consciousness. Seifer blames himself, but it's specifically mentioned in his record that all fault lies with the lack of proper backup they gave him. Even traffic cops get a partner to work with, and they put him on such a high profile case by himself almost straight out of the Academy."

"Wait, so you mean he doesn't have a partner? I assumed they just split him off for this because two cops would make people suspicious."

"Nope. He's a tagalong. Works a lot of cases by himself, which is absolutely crazy. He was assigned a partner in the beginning, guy lasted two weeks before he turned on Seifer. Apparently he'd come into contact with someone who knew Seifer from his days on the Twilight Disciplinary Committee who was willing to pay a hefty amount for revenge. Knocked our boy out, chained him up, dumped him in a warehouse and left with the reward. You probably haven't paid attention, but there's a scar on his left shoulder and back area. It's the symbol for fire, pretty intricate, though I assume the details have faded a bit. The person's whole drug operation and two of his lackeys had been burned to the ground by Seifer, and the drug lord got a little bit overzealous with his knife.

"It's carved all the way into his shoulder blade and a few ribs. Didn't count on Seifer coming to and melting the chains right off. Killed the guy and managed to call for help. His partner was facing life in prison when he was struck dead by lightning as he was being taken to court by Fuu and Rai, an _unfortunate freak accident_. Ever since, Seifer's refused to take on another partner, getting even more adamant once he became a detective and a Turk. It takes a special person to be a Turk's partner; our lives are in the hands of our partners almost every hour of every day. The amount of trust and chemistry required isn't unlike that found in a serious relationship, probably why so many partners are also lovers. Seifer…he just hasn't met someone he has that with. His partner's betrayal hit him harder than he let on, he doesn't trust anyone to cover his back anymore."

"That's…Seriously, does life ever give him a break?" Hayner asked, anger and sadness swirling in his chest. It just didn't seem fair that someone as genuinely decent as Seifer got so kicked around. He may have done some less than savory things, but he'd never hurt those who didn't have it coming to them, as far as the younger man knew.

"That's the thing about Seifer, what makes him able to pull off things alone normal people would be hard pressed to manage with a partner; every time life knocks him on his ass he gets back up, comes back more determined. He's got drive that, more than anything else, is what made Tseng tap him to become a Turk."

"So…he's just going to keep going it alone until he finds a suitable partner? That seems pretty damn lonely."

"Maybe, though it made the case perfect for him."

"Because he's already used to working alone, so it would be easier for him to do so with this case?"

"Nope. Though I guess that is a bonus."

The brown-eyed man blinked several times and stared at the other, wondering what the fuck the man was talking about. What else was there that made Seifer perfect for the job?

"So, what then?"

Luxord laughed, "But that would be telling. If it makes you feel better, Seifer doesn't know either. I do have to say though, you're letting the training Tseng put you through to waste."

"I don't really get why he did it in the first place. I'm not going to…"

"Live to use it? The best laid plans, Hayner."

The sandy-blond put out his cigarette into the ash tray next to him, leaning back into the couch and threading his fingers together in front of him. It was easy to build walls to keep Luxord out, he wasn't nearly as good at bringing them down as Seifer, who always seemed to know exactly where to push. The older detective didn't try though, content to just sit in silence. Minutes ticked by and Hayner lit another cigarette, noting that he'd have to get another pack out of the carton soon. He watched the blue smoke curl towards the ceiling before dissipating, aware his every move was being observed.

"Do you know how to play poker?"

"Luxord, I'm in the mafia. How the fuck could I not know how to play poker? I've known since I was six."

"Good," the other said as he pulled a deck out of his coat pocket, beginning to shuffle the cards, "We don't have to bet. Just something to do."

They played for a few hours, neither really keeping track of wins and losses. For once it was fun to play a game with low stakes. If the bearded man noticed the way the younger blond's eyes kept flicking over to the threshold to Seifer's area of the suite, and he probably did, he didn't say anything about it.

"So why the symbol for fire?"

Luxord made a confused sound, as if he didn't really understand what the other meant. The topic had passed, but it kept niggling at Hayner, why carve that into someone rather than just about anything else?

"The guy who wanted revenge on Seifer, why did he carve a fire symbol into him?"

"It was also used in ancient writings to describe destruction, rage, and hatred. As far as I can figure the guy was trying to tell him that all he can do is destroy and foster evil feelings in others."

"Fire can also foster life. In the natural world, forest fires are often gaia's way of getting rid of old trees and carve an area out for new life to grow. We also liken the desperate burning of fire to feelings of intense love. Someone told me…Seifer's the kind of person who loves and hates with everything he has. He also seems to be able to destroy and protect at the same time…So I guess, in a lot of ways, he is like his elemental affinity."

"Which is why, though he could have gotten surgery to remove at least the outward signs of the scar, he chose to keep it. It suits him, and serves to remind him every one of his actions has a consequence."

The teen was silent, contemplating. They stopped playing and he excused himself to his room again, pointedly not looking at his phone on the bed. He didn't do much other than pace, occasionally picking up his French copy of Sherlock Holmes a few times, but setting it down minutes later each time.

The one time he did attempt to sneak out for a walk, he was reaching for the door when a knife embedded itself in the wood right beside his head, inches away from him. He glanced over to find Luxord leaning against the threshold to the other section of the suite, looking rather dangerous twirling a knife through the air and catching it repeatedly. Raising his hands in the universal surrender, he backed away from the door. Retreating back to his area he lit a cigarette and took a hard pull. He felt trapped, jittery, his misguided concern for his knight and lack of mobility mixing to make a monster urging him to get away, if only for a few hours.

He bided his time until midnight rolled around, then removed the charm Vaan had given him, setting it on his bedside table. He knew if he left with it on Cloud would come looking after realizing that Hayner and Seifer had been separated. He left his phone in the same place. Taking his .45 as an extra precaution he slipped out, fully aware that he was taking an incredibly stupid risk as soon as he breathed the chill night air. About a mile away from the hotel he stopped and climbed up a fire escape to the first level, opening his new pack and lighting one of the cigarettes from it.

Sighing, he leaned back to lay against the cold metal below him, wondering if Luxord was as good at tracking him as Seifer. Something told him it wasn't likely, especially since there was no tracking signal to lead the detective. He wanted to be alone anyways. Well, that wasn't entirely true, he'd much rather be back at the suite with his icy-eyed shadow conscious and unharmed. But since he'd fucked that up pretty bad, here he was.

If he was lucky Luxord wouldn't notice, he could easily be back before the other detective had awoken and pretend as if the late night excursion had never occurred. His luck seemed in short supply, lately, so both of the blond detectives would probably wake up and find him missing, and he'd have two very angry and dangerous cops out looking for him.

At some point he had stopped smoking, giving up on even the pretense in favor of just laying there. Rolling onto his side, he burrowed into his coat and dozed off, no longer even caring that he could be found by both friend or foe.

* * *

><p>Hayner woke as the city did, the roar of traffic rousing him from his impromptu sleep. As the initial shock at falling so deeply asleep faded he started moving back to the hotel at a fast clip. He got there just as the sun was clearing the horizon, making quick work of the stairs and opening the door slowly.<p>

He was immediately grabbed by the front of his hoodie as Seifer yanked him forward and kicked the door closed behind him, only to slam him right back into it with enough force to send a jarring pain up his spine. The scarred man was pale and lacked a shirt, but his eyes positively burned. Against all instinct to push away the younger teen simply relaxed under the hold, hand moving of its own volition to touch the bandages on the other's shoulder. Ice-blue eyes followed the movement, softening as the person behind them began to understand.

"You are the most irresponsible person I have ever met in my _life_. Just because I'm injured and unconscious does not mean the whole 'don't ever leave without me' thing stops. Also, never leave your phone and that artifact behind, without them I have no way of ever finding you. You could have been dead for all I knew."

"You know, that's a two way-street. You left without me yesterday, and while I'm grateful for what you did, you are an idiot for thinking you can just dump me wherever and go off on your own. Seifer, do you have any idea how much it would have sucked for me to wake up and find out you died doing something stupid?"

"Would you have cared?" The older man asked, surprise creeping into his voice as if he hadn't actually considered that option.

"What the fuck, Seifer? Of course I would have cared. You're my friend, and we're partners in this. I can't do this without you, stop trying to make me."

"Sorry for making you worry."

"Who said I was worried? I just wanted to take a walk," he returned, voiding his words by pushing the larger man's hands off his hoodie and leaning forward to gently embrace him, chin resting on the other's uninjured shoulder. He was just showing his gratitude, really.

"Sorry I left without you, I didn't think you'd be awake to fuss about it. I needed to clear my head, but I couldn't leave you here without anyone to watch out for you, so I snuck out while Luxord was sleeping. Please tell me he has no idea, I don't want to get stabbed," Hayner continued, not entirely sure why he was apologizing.

"I won't let him stab you. He seemed largely unsurprised, though he was pretty ticked off regardless. He worries about you too."

"Just not as much as you."

"I don't think anyone frets over you as much as this mother hen," the eldest detective said from the other side of the room, having just walked out into Hayner's line of sight.

They probably should have broken the embrace a lot faster than the few moments it took them to after he spoke, though he didn't react with anything more than a quirked eyebrow. Once they'd both turned to face him, he continued speaking as the sandy-blond pulled off his hoodie, finding it too warm now that he was inside, "However, you need to get more rest, Seifer, and no, that's not a suggestion. Keep trying to push yourself and you'll pass out for days, if you don't put yourself in a coma. You know how powerful mana fatigue can be, it's nothing to play with."

The scarred blond looked meaningfully over at his charge, who suddenly felt immensely worse for running off like he had, because now Seifer probably expected him to do it again if the injured man went back to sleep. He was pretty much the most selfish asshole on the planet. Luxord shrugged, walked over to them, and snapped a handcuff onto Hayner's right wrist and his companion's left.

"Problem solved. Hayner can't run off, so you can go get the rest you need to recover. It's a king sized bed anyways," the bearded man said, clearly pleased with his forward thinking.

"Where the hell did you get handcuffs?" The youngest spluttered, trying his best not to think about the implications of sleeping next to Seifer wearing handcuffs.

"Seifer's bag, found them when I was looking for an ether and assumed, correctly, that they'd come in handy."

The brown-eyed man turned on his counterpart, "Why did you bring them then?"

"I'm a cop, handcuffing people is a large portion of what I do. Besides, they're proving useful," he answered with a sly smile, he wasn't remotely bothered by the situation.

Feeling a lot like he was being ganged up on, he allowed himself to be led into Seifer's bedroom, both of the laying down with minimal hassle considering they were now limited in their range of movements. Hating sleeping in jeans he shucked them off, managing to not blush when he felt eyes on his back. Rolling over onto his right side, he watched the other, who was eying him in return.

"This is okay, right? I assume Luxord has the key, I can get him to let you out of these."

"You can just stop asking, I'm pretty sure there is nothing you can do that really bothers me. And if the handcuffs mean you won't stay up worrying that I'm going to run off on you again I'm just fine with them. It's my own fault anyways."

"You left because you were worried about me, or because you were pissed with me?"

"Both. Mostly the first one. And I was ticked off with myself for worrying, because you're okay. You are fine, right?" He added, just wanting to make sure in case he might accidentally injure his companion if he moved in his sleep.

"My wounds have almost completely healed. I just need to rest because while healing mana can speed up the mending process by adding life force to the cells, it's still incredibly draining on the body as a whole. It's like combining weeks or months of natural mending into a period of a few minutes."

"You're still an idiot for trying to take on something like that by yourself. If nothing else, they're scared enough to put everything in one place and put it under heavy guard. Meaning we don't have to keep running around town. Though cutting through the men to get to it will be a challenge."

"We'll deal with that later. For now you need to rest just as much as I do. Can't imagine sleeping on the ground or the roof or wherever you took your nap was very restful."

"How long did you know I was gone?"

"About three hours. Lux threatened to tie me to the bed if I tried to leave and I had a feeling he wasn't bluffing. So I just waited for you to come back. It's not like I could have found you anyways. Your mana signature is so faint I can't pick you up when you're more than fifty feet away if you're not wearing that artifact."

"I thought only magic-users had one?"

"Nah. Everyone does, it's just that with magic-users it's a hell of a lot more obvious, because even if they can use other elements, it'll be the one they use most of the time, and it'll be way more prominent than an average person's. You know about the life stream, right? Think of elemental affinity as Gaia's way of making our life stream different from each other's, like a tagging system. The strength and the secondary, tertiary and quaternary affinities make each of us different, same as a fingerprint."

"For example, healing magic can be more or less effective depending both on the affinity of the person its being cast on, and how the affinities of both the healer and the patient interact. If the elements are the same it'll act normally, if they're compatible it'll be more effective, if they're opposing it'll be less effective. Which is why when I finally read yours I thought it was some sort of cosmic joke."

"How so?" Hayner asked, not exactly following the last part.

"My main affinity is fire, obviously, and I have a sub-affinity for lightning; you have a main of wind and a sub of water. Water and lightning matches tend to balance each other out, water's considered the most compatible for lightning, and fire and wind are highly compatible as well, those matches tend to feed off each other in conversations and battles. The oddest part is their strengths, or influence, are equal. Basically, your mana signature is an exact two-affinity compatibility match to mine; do you have any idea how rare that is? The military has a special training program for exact matches, whether they can use magic or not they become two-person strike teams. It's basically unheard of for two exact matches to meet without being shoved together by a matching database because there's only going to be maybe twenty people on the planet who have a two-affinity match with someone, and one person if any with a four-affinity match."

"I can see why that would seem pretty ridiculous, especially considering we would have never met if not for this operation, and were never really supposed to be friends with each other even then. Like some god is doing all this on purpose just to toy with us. Though what about the third and fourth, or can you not tell?"

"I'm just a High Adept, to be able to even read the lower tier affinities takes a Sorcerer-class magic user like Cloud or Zack. I guess if we see them again we could ask. But for now, want me to put you to sleep? It would probably be better."

"Yeah, that's fine. I appreciate it. You going to do the same to yourself?"

"Magic-induced sleep tends to be deeper, so it's my best option. Plus, just because I'm almost fully healed doesn't mean my injuries don't hurt like a bitch. Hard to sleep through."

Hayner closed his eyes and avoided the sudden impulse to press his hand against his companion's heart, "I'm sorry for dragging you into all this."

"For one it wasn't even your decision, and for another I'm glad you did. Sleep well, Hayner," the older blond answered before saying the words to the spell, Hayner's world going black as soon as he finished.

* * *

><p>As Seifer gradually came into consciousness he noted a weight on his shoulder that wasn't there when he succumbed. Opening his eyes he found his young friend's head nestled on his left shoulder, their handcuffed arms slightly behind him. His body was flush with Seifer's, laying in the gap the placement of their arms had created. His shoulder was twisted a little and he'd probably wake up sore. Some maneuvering later the older blond had managed to roll the other over and loop his handcuffed arm around Hayner's shoulders so he could wrap it around him without bending his arm at an awkward angle. As it was the brown-eyed man's arm was bent on his chest.<p>

Content with this, as odd as the bodily contact was, the detective settled again, letting himself doze while he waited for his charge to wake up. He wasn't really sure why the teen had cuddled up to him while he was unconscious, but it probably had something to do with the reason why he reached out in his sleep as if expecting someone to be there when he was in fact alone in bed.

Stirring next to him brought him out of his sleepy thoughts, watching as Hayner slowly came to. The smaller blond started when he realized where he was in reference to the other, chocolate eyes snapping to meet his.

"Evening, sleep well?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to invade your personal space like this. I…really have no explanation for this."

"Don't worry about it, doesn't bother me a bit."

"How are you feeling?" The sandy-blond teen asked, maintaining eye contact.

"Stiff, but fine. Doesn't even hurt much anymore. You?"

"I was perfectly okay to begin with," which was a magnificent lie because his shoulder still ached and he could definitely feel the effect of heavy healing magic on his overall energy levels, "Think we can get Luxord to uncuff us?"

"Probably, but I can just melt them off if he won't."

They got up with some difficulty, still working out how to move around the metal tether. Seifer noted the stiffness in his friend's arm and cast another healing spell on Hayner before they went out into the main room. The bearded detective was texting someone from a couch in the main area and didn't even have to look before he was holding the key to the cuffs up for them. Once they were removed Hayner rubbed his wrist absently, making no move to shift away now that there was no longer forced proximity.

"Seifer, you should have the news networks hire you to cause mass amounts of mayhem for them. I can only imagine the viewers they're getting out of the massacre at the mansion and the fire at the other hideout; those stories are all they've been playing all fucking day. Luckily Tseng took control of the situation before they could actually get into the mansion and poke around where they shouldn't."

"Well at least the people of Twilight have something interesting to watch on the news tonight, rather than all that bullshit the reporters show trying to prove this godforsaken city is a safe place to live," Seifer returned, nudging the silent man next to him and rousing him from his thoughts.

"I assume you'll be leaving tomorrow then, Luxord?" The youngest of them asked neutrally.

"If Seifer thinks you'll be fine without me now?"

"I'm fully healed, think I can take it from here. Besides, you need to get what we've gathered to Tseng before someone catches on that you were a spy the entire time and hunts you down."

"If it were anyone else I would be offended that you wanted to get rid of me so quickly, but with you that's just how you protect people, by pushing them away. I could stay, you know, I'm not exactly incapable of defending myself. I'm not above playing the game for a bit longer."

"You've done enough for this case, Luxord. Go back to your partner, you two have a lot to catch up on. I'm sure Tseng already has a few jobs for you guys lined up, so take a break where you can," Hayner added, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I get it, I'm just a third wheel, right? Kids these days, no respect for their elders. I'll head out tomorrow morning, pick up Marly and head over to the station."

"Sounds good. Say thanks to Marluxia when you see him, he did a good job," the smaller man said, being purposefully vague as to what the pink-haired man had done well.

"Will do, Hayner. He's gonna miss you, you were always his favorite. Something about looking really good in a suit, I don't pretend to understand the nonsense he babbles, but he likes you."

"You're talking like Marluxia is never going to see him again," the younger detective said, glancing in the direction of the teen beside him, who was pointedly not looking in his direction. He stored the conversation away to discuss when they didn't have company.

"Not sure if their paths will cross much after this," Luxord answered with a shrug, as if it didn't matter much.

They ended up playing videogames the rest of the night, eventually both just staring at the ceiling while pressing buttons at random. They were playing some fighting game and it hardly mattered whether they were looking at it or not, eventually one of them would make contact. There was something hazy about the night, as if Seifer was looking at everything through a veil of cigarette smoke. They fell asleep around four in the morning, Hayner using his shoulder as a pillow again. His sense of time was so warped he didn't even know how long they'd been working together anymore, doubted the actual time would be anything close to how long it'd felt like. They'd accomplished a staggering amount in just a handful of days, it almost seemed like a twisted, surreal dream.

His companion shifted in his sleep, mumbling something as his hand skimmed over Seifer's chest to rest over the older man's heart, as if to reassure himself that his knight was still there. Which…_fuck._ None of this made a bit of sense anymore; not the way they were drawn together like magnets, not the relationship they had that wasn't exactly friends but not foes or lovers either, a weird something in between all three, and not the way everyone seemed to be hinting towards something more sinister about Hayner's plans for the operation.

His summons stirred faintly, Ultima's mana reaching out to test the lifestream in the teen's hand. Watching the faint white tendril twine its way around Hayner's arm, he was surprised to feel that Ultima had apparently judged this new addition to her temporary master's life as acceptable; as the Scion of Light she was easily the harshest judge of character. She was whispering something on the edges of his mind, but he couldn't focus enough to hear it. Letting his eyes fall shut he let go of what was going on in favor of sleep, resolving to deal with everything when he awoke.

* * *

><p>"I'd warn you about getting in too deep, but I think we both know it's a bit late for that."<p>

Opening his eyes as he dragged himself out of unconsciousness he searched for the source of the voice, ice-colored eyes stopping to rest on Luxord. The other was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, looking an uneasy mix of disapproval and understanding. The scarred detective had reflexively tightened his arm protectively around the man sleeping beside him, if the eldest blond noticed the moment of possessiveness he didn't comment.

"My life is just one mistake after the other, might as well stick to the familiar. If I get hurt it's my own damn fault, but I'm not letting him go. Even if it costs me my life, I will get him through this alive, no matter how he tries to thwart me. I'm fairly certain he's going to intentionally do something to prompt someone to kill him at the end of the operation, but I won't let him succeed."

"At least you're aware of it. I was worried you had somehow missed the warnings he keeps giving everyone. He wants to die, are you okay with removing that option from him? In his mind there's nothing waiting for him on the other side of this, you could be condemning him by forcing him to continue living."

"His friends and those he's helped are waiting for him, I'll be waiting. He's giving up too easily, if I force him to accept that he has to live he'll discover he has a lot more than he thought."

"Sure you don't just want him around for your own reasons? You don't own him, you can't decide whether he has to live or not."

Seifer's lip curled back in a predatory snarl as he responded, "He only wants to die because he can't live with the knowledge of the things he's done. If I can convince him he's done enough to be forgiven for it, maybe he can start living for the first time."

"Why are you willing to go so far for him?"

"Why ask a question when you already know the answer, Luxord?"

"If it was any other situation, I would call you unprofessional. But this…this is exactly why Tseng put you on the case. Hayner's a lot like you were when you were younger, only difference is he was born into the life, and you chose to enter the underground. You can get him out if you're willing to take a few more bullets for him. Seeing as you never do anything halfway, I'm guessing you're going to try. You seem the type to gamble with his life."

"Can I tell you something, honestly, without you trying to get Tseng to pull me off the case?"

"There's no way in hell he's taking you off this thing anyways, so go ahead."

"If it was between saving Hayner and putting Don Corneo in jail and there was absolutely no way I could do both…I'd choose Hayner. We can always continue to go after the Don, or even just shoot him if he gets to be more of a problem, but Hayner only has one life to lose. At this point his wellbeing is more important to me than my job."

The bearded detective watched him for a long few beats before he smiled sadly, shaking his head. There was something like pride in his eyes.

"That's what makes you a Turk and not just a cop, Seifer. You're willing to lose everything for someone you hardly know, because you understand that they deserve a chance at life. This is what sets us apart, we're not afraid to disobey orders to protect what really matters. Since we're being honest, I have to tell you a little secret. At this point we view putting the mafia in chains as a bonus to rescuing Hayner. If nothing else, with him and a few other witnesses we could probably form a fairly solid case with just the evidence you've gathered thus far, if we're lucky. We have all the time in the world."

"People have been telling me all along I didn't get it, and I think I know what they meant now. I didn't have my priorities straight."

"Well, now that you're awake and I'm sure you're not going to fuck this up, I'd better make my escape. Oh, and Seifer?" Luxord asked, the man laying on the floor making a noise in response.

"Do us all a favor and stay alive. Hayner's going to need you just as much later as he does now."

"You got it. Tell the boss I'm going to punch him in the face when I get back to work."

"Wouldn't expect any less from you. Good luck with your game, Seifer."

Footsteps faded and the door opened and closed, locking behind the exiting detective. Closing his eyes he could feel Ultima continue to sift through the sleeping man's lifestream, looking at his memories, thoughts and feelings. An attempt to reign her in resulted in her artifact sparking sharply against his skin, the scion equivalent of the middle finger.

He hated the way she was basically running roughshod over Hayner's private thoughts but there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it, at the very least she wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt him with them. If she tried to, he'd smash her artifact, removing her connection to Seifer. She withdrew as he thought this, gem heating up as she demonstrated her indignation. If he crushed her artifact it would further lessen her available junctions into the real world. As her summon gems were absurdly rare to begin with, she wanted to protect them so she could continue to visit their world and play god for a while when she was summoned.

"How long have you been awake, Hayner?" Seifer asked, feeling foolish for not realizing the younger man's breathing had changed at some point.

"Enough to know your summon is altogether too interested in me. I assume there's no way you can ward her off?"

"I threatened to smash her artifact, I think that'll be enough to keep her away from you for a while. It's a lost cause if she decides she wants to anyways, I can't control her actions any more than I can stop the sun from rising."

"Doesn't matter much anyways, she didn't find anything you wouldn't have found out about soon enough," he replied, pulling away and sitting up with his back turned towards the other.

At first the older man was confused as to what he meant, then realization dawned, "I'm not going to have her relay whatever she found. Fucking hell, Hayner, that's yours and I have no right to it."

"You say that, but it's your job to know everything you can about me, isn't it? I can't imagine you'd pass up such a fantastic opportunity."

The scarred man wasn't the kind to get angry with people he cared about. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt them, either emotionally or physically, and getting angry was a quick way to doing just that. The very idea of hurting someone he held dear was terrifying enough to hold most of his explosive anger at bay, but this? This pissed him the fuck off, he would never invade another's privacy so carelessly, and if Hayner thought he would then that spoke volumes of what the younger man thought of his guardian.

"Fuck you, Hayner. Fuck you."

He pushed himself to his feet and walked away, to his room, slamming the door behind him. He could have left, probably should have left, but he wouldn't leave his friend alone like that. Sitting on the bed, he breathed out slowly and centered himself, eyes closed and forehead resting on his laced fingers. His summons pulsed on his chest and he quite clearly told them to shut the fuck up. At the very least, Ultima's probing had made her able to see Hayner's mana signature from any distance. She seemed less haughty than normal as she agreed to track him in case he tried to leave, as close to an apology as she'd give.

Several hours passed as he continued filing reports on their escapades thus far and called Fuu and Rai. At one point Zexion sent him a text asking if he'd make the court date for the assault and attempted rape case he was supposed to testify at. He returned with 'I'll do my best' and left it at that. It all depended on how long the current case took. If push came to shove he could probably get Tseng to push the court date back, citing some precedent no one but him knew. The slate-haired man sent him another text,

-_Remember what I told you, there's a lot more to him than you think_-

_Zexion slipped into his office quietly, his presence something like a bird at the window; too subtle to notice at first, but gradually the feeling of being watched tightened the strings of the person's nerves until they finally searched for the source, drawing a belated note of surprise when they found him. As it was Seifer had grown somewhat used to it, and only started slightly when he looked up to find the other standing there. _

"_Did you want the short version, or the longer one? I'm aware the others have been bothering you incessantly since we cornered you in Roxas's office earlier, so I'll understand if you don't wish to hear my life story."_

_The blond was presented with a dilemma, while he did indeed have a lot to do yet, he was far more interested in Zexion's story than he had been with the others'. Most likely because the polite, quiet, and outrageously deceptive man didn't speak of things flippantly, like Axel or Reno were prone to. If he said that Hayner had rescued him somehow, he truly meant it. _

"_You can give me the long version if you don't mind me reading Hayner's file while you're doing so."_

"_For a period of time I went to a prestigious university on a scholarship, before I ever went to the Academy. While the scholarship covered my classes and books, I had to pay room and board myself. My schedule was such that I couldn't work enough hours to cover the costs, so rather than taking out a student loan for tens of thousands and damning myself to debt for the next ten years, I took out a loan for five thousand dollars to invest in the months I had before the start of my freshman year. _

"_I played the stock market for those few months and came away with fifty thousand, enough to cover my room and board for the year. However, I was not very…subtle about what I was doing. I left an obvious trail, and naturally the mafia picked up on it and started tracking my earnings. A month into my first semester I was kidnapped on my way back to my dorm. Put a gun to my head and demanded that I work for them, Hayner was sitting behind me in the van they dragged me into, didn't say anything. I didn't agree, of course, and a few blows to the head later I was out cold."_

_Seifer looked up from where he'd been reading Hayner's background, interest peaked enough that he felt he should be a bit more attentive to the story than he originally planned. _

"_When I came to I was on the floor of my dorm, Hayner was standing over me and handed me his cell phone. He told me to call emergency services if I needed medical help or wanted to have him arrested for being an accomplice, and just stood there, waiting. He would have been sixteen at the time, and he was giving me the option to call the cops on him after he sat in a van with people who kidnapped me. I was fairly certain I wasn't in immediate danger, so I handed the phone back to him. He explained that if I agreed I'd get a basically limitless fund to invest for them, and if it paid off well enough they might actually let me live. _

"_He then proceeded to outline a plan where if we played our cards right all the money from the inflated shares I was selling would end up transferred to an offshore account that belonged to him, rather than the organization. Basically making all of that money disappear and no one would notice until I was long gone, since he had appointed himself as my babysitter. So I followed his instructions, since it seemed like a good way to escape without letting them profit. From the beginning I knew there was something different about him._

"_Everything worked as planned, I was able to continue attending classes and monitor the stocks at the same time, and as I was getting ready to cut and run he handed me a piece of paper with Tseng's name, number and address. Told me to drop out, go to the Academy and become a detective. To hunt down the people who kidnapped innocent people and forced them to do this sort of thing, or worse. I thought it was some sort of joke at first and ignored him, Tseng helped me disappear for a while, in the interim between semesters. Then they took Demyx, who at the time was just a close friend._

"_Hayner found him, shot his captors and handed him over to Tseng. I applied for the Academy the same day we got Dem back, and he applied shortly after learning what had transpired. Tseng sheltered us for a long time, shuffling us around so that the mob could never quite track down where we were. We graduated and were immediately tapped to become Turks, we've been following the mob's paper trail ever since."_

"_So, basically, Hayner is pretty damn good at scheming, and for all intents and purposes just fucks shit up for the organization he belongs to for kicks?" The scarred man asked finally, looking back down at the file in his hands. Absolutely none of this was in the man's background, none of their stories were, and it seemed like very relevant information readily at hand. So why the hell did nothing that Hayner did make it to any kind of paperwork?_

"_I know you're trying your best to hate him, but there's a hell of a lot more to Hayner than anyone really knows. Life's not black and white, Seifer, there are millions of shades of grey. You know better than to categorize people into bad or good."_

"_Just because Hayner Corneo has saved a few lives in the course of his adolescence does not mean he's a good person, either. Fine, if it makes you happy, I'll promise to try to withhold judgment until I've known him at least a day."_

"_You'll spend years figuring that man out, Seifer," Zexion said by way of goodbye, exiting the office._

A second text from the other detective broke him out of the memory, this message slightly longer than the first few.

-_The Don found out he let us go. When he was done interrogating him, Hayner was hospitalized for 3 weeks. He never gave up the account info or our location.-_

The blond man dropped the phone as if it had burned him, feeling vaguely like he was going to be sick. What kind of father tortures their sixteen year-old son until he's on the brink of death? It was hardly a wonder Hayner hated the man so much. Seifer found himself on Hayner's side of the suite before he actually consciously thought to start moving there, the other man catching sight of him as he put the necklace he'd removed earlier back on.

Whatever the younger blond started saying was drowned out by the sound of the door being kicked off its hinges, both of them turning to find a team of eight men in black gear rush in. Before the scarred man could respond they had hit him with a tranquilizer dart, the world suddenly falling away as his muscles gave out and he collapsed. He heard a shout from Hayner and felt a bright spark of pain in his head just before he blacked out.

* * *

><p>In retrospect, immediately punching the nearest human figure when he came to after the assault was not the best course of action. Then again, it was hardly his fault his automatic response to being shaken awake by someone who had him pinned to the floor was to lash out. As it was, Cloud was left nursing a sore jaw and looking put out, Seifer was disoriented, concussed and pissed off, Zack was standing back looking anxious, and Hayner was <em>gone.<em> The last part being far more important than anything else.

"Where's Hayner?" He asked as soon as he realized this, ignoring the impossibility of the two men even being here for the moment.

"Kidnapped. Fell off the radar, they took him to somewhere that has an impressively strong Veil, I can't sense his artifact at all anymore. We decided to stay in the area by request of Tseng, so we'd be close in case you needed us, like you did now. Besides, we owe Hayner. We'll get him back, even if we have to ransack every room in the area. I know within a half mile radius where he is, but it'll still take a while to get his location down to a building," Zack explained while Cloud stubbornly refused to let the younger man up off the floor, citing his head trauma as cause for alarm.

"Stay down, Seifer. You know how hard it is to heal concussions with magic. Give me a few minutes," the older blond said in a neutral tone, continuing to mouth the words to healing spells.

"So we have no idea who took Hayner, except that they were obviously decently trained and dangerous, which means we don't really have time to spare. If we get close, Ultima will be able to pick him up, Veil or no. She rifled around in his lifestream, so she can find him a lot better than we could, since she'll be looking for that instead of his mana signature."

"Why would she do that? What could possibly interest her about a person with no magical abilities?"

"I don't really give a damn right now, Cloud. All I care about is finding Hayner, and I can't do that with you on top of me."

The spiky-haired blond sighed and stood, stepping away from Seifer and giving him a hand up, understanding etched in his features. As the ice-eyed man shook his head to get rid of the dizziness he suddenly felt the others exchanged a look.

"We can take you to where he disappeared. He hasn't moved out of the Veil, so we can assume he's still there."

The detective grabbed his badge and guns before following them downstairs and out of the building. Their bikes were parked across the street, Seifer slipped in behind the blond mercenary and they took off without so much as a turning signal. He supposed they didn't really need to obey the speed laws with a cop riding. Once inside the Veiled area they split up to search, Ultima complaining that she had trouble pinning down the man's location because his life force was weakening. Which did absolutely nothing for her summoner's rising levels of panic.

Zodiark began to stir after the fifth block Seifer had walked around in the hopes the Scion of Light would be able to sense the sandy-blond that had gone missing. The null elemental summon started shifting around in his temporary master's consciousness, flutters at the edge of his vision as the Esper tried to sift through the past few hours to ascertain what happened while he slept. With two restless Scions in his head, Seifer was inches away from completely losing his shit and letting them loose to find his missing companion, even if it meant demolishing every building in the area. Every moment that passed was another bone the men that had him could break, all it took was a few minutes to be too late. He mentally swore and moved faster.

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><p>Sorry it took me a while to upload, as I've mentioned before I have a fairly packed schedule and just could not find the time to do it during the week. Ignoring the fact that I was kicked out of my house a few days ago as well. I hope you're all well and have not wasted away in the two weeks it's taken for me to get this chapter up. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and subscriptions, believe it or not I do have a heart and it really cheers me up when someone takes the time to drop me a line or at least show me that they want to read more. See you guys soon~<p> 


	4. Checkmate

A/N 1: Just to remind everyone, this work is rated mature for a reason. The following chapter in particular has a few scenes that could be accurately described as graphic and/or disturbing. If you are bothered by not unreasonable levels of violence and gore I don't know how you made it this far into the story but you may want to consider the back button.

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><p>It took them three hours to find where they were keeping Hayner, even with Ultima's help narrowing it down to a five hundred foot area. They had him in the basement of one of the many buildings that had been abandoned in the area, which was notorious for mafia and gang activity. Most people had either moved out or gotten pushed out by the crime family that ran the place, which gave Seifer a good idea of just who had taken his charge. As they crept into the poorly-lit basement he could hear voices talking.<p>

"Don't think there's much left we can break on the fucker. Still won't tell us Daddy's smuggling routes, contacts, or bank account numbers. Should just kill the kid, he's no good to us if he won't talk. Can't break his fingers 'cause we need him to be able to draw on the map. Guess I could anyways, 'fore I shoot him, might be funny."

"Do whatever you want, pretty sure he's shut up like a steel trap. 'Least it'll teach the Don not to fuck with our drug routes. Too bad little Corneo doesn't scream as much as I expected him to, kind of ruining it for me."

The mercenary duo moved in tandem without his signal, darting forward and landing two devastating punches to the people in the next room, the sound of skulls shattering and limp bodies hitting the floor assailing Seifer's ears as he tried to control his rage. Ultima knew exactly where the brown-eyed teen was at this proximity, and before the detective knew it his legs were moving in that direction. He found Hayner secured to a metal chair by zipties, covered in his own blood and just barely conscious enough to respond as the older man melted them and broke them off.

"'ifer?" He choked out, weakly wrapping his left arm around his savior and wincing slightly as the other gently embraced him. There were cuts all along his torso and legs, his shirt probably only staying together because it was held on by blood, he'd struggled against the zipties enough that his wrists were sliced open. He carefully lifted the younger man up out of the chair, one arm tucked under his legs and the other around his shoulders. Several of his ribs were broken, both of his lower legs and right arm were broken, and by the looks of it his right arm had also been dislocated. There were trails of blood out of his mouth, either from the deep cut on his cheek or internal bleeding. His neck was badly bruised. Seifer'd seen people worse off, of course, but they were never still breathing at that point.

"Hey, aren't you the dirty cop the strike team mentioned they left alive? Kind of surprised you came after the little bitch. You want a job, buddy? We could use someone as determined as you," a voice came from the next room over, the person emerging had blood on his hands and clothes. Hayner gripped the detective's shirt tightly, body going rigid with terror. Cloud and Zack appeared from the other side and moved to surround the pair, both men's faces stony.

"You're the one that did this to him, aren't you?" The man slowly being covered in his companion's blood asked, feeling the Espers on his chest rage against the confines of their artifacts, mind surging with their violent consciousnesses.

"Well one of the others helped, but mostly it was me. Fucker doesn't talk much-"

Seifer lost it, unable to fight the summons and no longer wanting to. They burst into the real world hot with indignant fury, and he only needed to give them one order.

"**Destroy."**

They knew that Hayner, Cloud and Zack were allies, feeding off his thoughts and emotions made sure they only took out the people he wanted dead. Which at this point was everyone else in the area who they decided were related to the torture of his charge, or even knew the people involved. He didn't care anymore, his own anger was mixed with that of the monsters he'd unleashed and combined the emotions were enough to turn his vision red and make his knees weak. The man who'd spoken to him was literally torn in half by Zodiark, though the beast's body remained immaculate under the spray of blood, ever untouched by humans.

At some point one of the others had taken Hayner from his arms and someone was holding him upright while his sight faded. He fought valiantly to stay conscious against the onslaught of two far superior minds warring within his own, but he knew he was slipping. As the Espers formed a barrier around them and lifted them out of the crumbling building, Ultima turned to face him, her bluish hand reaching out to grab his head. His entire being was suddenly filled with magic, healing power running through him and to Hayner like electricity along a wire. Somewhere in the part of his mind that wasn't being torn apart and reassembled, she explained that they broke her new toy and that it was utterly unacceptable, so she was fixing him.

Seifer collapsed as the barrier they were in touched down in the street outside what was once a building, the Scions he commanded circling the area once before dissipating into the gems on his chest. As they finally quieted in his mind, he blacked out.

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><p>He had mixed and strange dreams as his mind recovered from the overload of summoning. At one point he relived the scene in the basement, just this time Hayner was dead. The friend he'd lost in the only operation he'd ever failed emerged from the shadows, eyes empty, and behind him, Seifer's parents. One by one every thug he'd killed walked out of the corner to stare at him. No one accused him of anything, they just stood and stared, over two dozen people he'd killed or watched die. Many more appeared as shadows, as he'd never seen their faces before he ended their lives. Suddenly the scene shifted and they all opened their mouths in a silent scream and seemed to be sucked into Hayner, and the previously dead teen took a first gasping breath.<p>

Somewhere later in dream-time he watched as Ultima cradled the brown-eyed boy, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. She stroked his face as a mother would, then beckoned the detective over. He watched himself move towards her from a vantage point somewhere away from both his own body and them. The Scion pulled him up onto her skirts where his companion lay, and they curled up together and slept as she pet their hair gently. Then the female Esper looked directly at him, the him that was watching, and gestured to the bodies in her lap meaningfully. As she spoke there was no sound, but he could read her lips.

"_What could be."_

The image dissolved and he was standing at his own funeral, Hayner smoking under a tree away from the other attendees. As the service passed Seifer couldn't help but watch the other man as he stared blankly at the coffin, hands shaking slightly as he chain smoked. The scene shifted and everyone but Hayner had left, the sandy-blond now standing on the fresh mound and staring at the headstone. He trailed his hand along the fairly plain slab, pulling off a necklace that looked vaguely like the one that held Ultima and Zodiark's summon materia and kneeling to place it on the ground. He slowly pulled out his .45, put it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. The dream world shattered.

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><p>Seifer woke slowly, head pounding. He was on his side with his arms wrapped around Hayner, the smaller man curled against him, head pillowed on one arm. They seemed to be in the detective's room at the suite, though how the fuck they ended up there was a mystery to him. His companion seemed to be fully healed, though deep in sleep, his arms also wound around the other's abdomen.<p>

The older man was completely aware he always cuddled things in his sleep, he'd woken up several times snuggled up to his massive cat, who seemed to enjoy the attention no matter how unintentional. He wasn't really sure why, and didn't care to sit down with a psychologist ever, so he'd probably never know. His companion, however, probably only did it because he was used to sleeping with his bed partner of a few years. It was vaguely unsettling merely being a replacement for his lover, even if the other man didn't mean to imply that.

It suddenly struck him that the last time he saw Hayner, the teen was covered in his own blood and his clothes were cut up beyond recognition, yet now he was wearing a clean undershirt and boxers, and so was Seifer for that matter. Which meant someone had changed them out of their clothes and cleaned them off, leading him to believe Cloud and Zack didn't leave after he passed out. Sure enough, the blond mercenary walked in to check on them, eyebrows raising slightly as he noticed that the detective was awake.

"It's been four days. He woke up once, and fell back asleep almost immediately. We've been watching, for a while it looked like you might have fallen into a coma, but you reacted when we shook you, so we figured you'd probably come out of it soon," the older man explained simply, reading the unasked question in the other's eyes.

"I assume you changed our clothes?"

"And washed you off. Couldn't leave you covered in blood. Ultima seems to have healed all of Hayner's wounds, but he's sporting a few fresh scars. She also insisted on explaining to me how she put together his shattered wrist and right tibia," he added, tapping the earring in his right ear meaningfully, the red materia glowing faintly.

"Cloud, tell me honestly, did I..." Seifer trailed off, absently following the faint pink scar on the teen's cheek with his eyes.

"Fuck up? I don't think so. You almost died though. I suppose I neglected to mention, they shot you in the back when they took him. If we hadn't been just a few minutes' drive away you probably wouldn't have made it. Maybe Ultima would've saved you, but we can never be sure, she's kind of a cold bitch. Either way, sometimes shit happens and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Hayner's alive and safe, so in the end I don't think you failed."

"Have you called Tseng and told him what happened?"

"I believe he deduced something happened when you leveled several buildings."

"...Right. You're...a lot more talkative than I've ever seen you, in fact I'm fairly certain that you've said more words to me in the past five minutes than you have in the years I've known you."

"Zack has...reminded me why I continue to live. Thinking he was probably dead for all this time, because of me," he paused, lips thinning slightly as he turned the words over in his mind before trying them on his tongue, "I gave up on the idea of being able to protect anything, I caused the man I loved to die. So the less I involved myself with people, the fewer people I'd feel I had to protect, the fewer people I'd let down."

"But now you know he was alive, and your drive to find him rescued him. If you hadn't been looking, Hayner never would have known."

"In the end though, it was Hayner who located and freed him. And for that, I will owe him everything each and every day I wake up next to Zack."

"I doubt he feels the same. To him it was just something he was supposed to do, maybe something to make him feel better about what he is."

"And what is he, Seifer?"

"A hero trapped in the life of a cold-blooded killer. The opposite of me, basically."

"If you were nothing but a killer playing at hero, Ultima and Zodiark would have destroyed you the first time you tried to wear their artifacts. You forget, Seifer, just how long I've been joined with them...Espers are unable to stay their tongues. I know what you've done."

"I suppose it's hard to avoid something that makes its home in your mind. You don't seem bothered."

"I've killed more than you, Seifer, and for less reason. To protect myself, to protect the people I've cared about...and occasionally just because they stood in my way. To judge you for doing the same would be incredibly hypocritical."

Hayner shifted slightly in his arms, mumbling something about noise before his eyelashes fluttered and he opened his eyes.

"You asshole. You are never allowed to lose consciousness for more than a day at a time, got it? Thought you'd never wake up," the younger man snapped, shoving at his chest weakly.

"I'm sorry, Hayner."

He wasn't talking about his four day nap, and he knew Hayner understood by the tired look the other gave him. The teen turned to look at Cloud, eyes calculating.

"Not your fault, Seifer. It's fine, I forgive you. Not exactly the first time something like this has happened. In fact, last time it was worse, almost didn't wake up at all."

The difficult thing about speaking entirely in double entendres is that one can't spend too long thinking of a reply without the person supposed to be left out of the loop getting suspicious. Seifer was good at improvising though, learned hard and fast on the streets when he needed to make contact with buyers in high-traffic areas.

"I promise you it won't happen again."

"Promises are hard to keep, Seifer," the other sighed, rolling over and sitting up, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the bed. His back was hunched and he was relaxed in an unnatural way, like he was just too tired to be tense. Impossibly blue eyes flicked between the two, the mercenary clearly confused as to Hayner's listless tone. He wondered if Ultima would tell Cloud what they were actually talking about, or if she had enough respect for the younger man to keep her traitorous mouth shut.

"You should probably rest a little longer, both of you. Don't do too much or you'll collapse. We're not leaving just yet, so let us know if you need something done."

"You don't owe us anything, Cloud. We'll be fine-" the youngest of them began quietly.

"Neither of you are in a condition to defend yourselves, we're staying until you are. We're hired fighters, Hayner, and as far as I'm concerned, owe you a rather large sum to be paid back," Zack interrupted as he walked in, most likely drawn by the sound of them talking.

"You really don't have-"

"We _want_ to, so just accept it. How are you two feeling, by the way?" The raven-haired man changed the subject abruptly.

"Like I haven't moved in four days and two demigods fucked around in my brain for a while," the detective replied with a shrug. He was stiff, sore, had a headache and wasn't entirely sure what month it was, but he'd be fine.

"How have you been since I last saw you, Zack?" The sandy-blond diverted rather sloppily. He couldn't have been operating on all cylinders if he thought he could pull off such an obvious evasion.

"I'm just fine, and that is not the appropriate answer to my question. Try again kiddo," Zack answered, walking over to loom over the smaller man, arms crossed on his chest. Or loom as best as Zack Fair could, since he didn't seem able to wipe the small smile off his face.

"I'm not a child, why does fucking everyone insist on calling me kiddo?"

The eldest of them shook his head before flicking Hayner in the forehead, "Still not an answer."

Hayner glowered, but relented, "Other than a few phantom aches and some new scars, I'm fine."

"That's really good considering you were pretty much dead when we finally got to you. Roxas wanted to talk to you, by the way. You should probably call him now that you're awake. I think Spike and Seifer had something more to talk about," Zack said with a knowing glance at Cloud, grabbing the brown-eyed man on the bed by the arm and dragging him off into the next room.

The mako-enhanced ex-soldier watched them go, then waited a few beats for some unknown signal, then turned back to Seifer and walked closer to the bed. The set of his jaw was hard and serious.

"Ultima used you as a magic channel to heal Hayner. You know why, don't you?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me he's my final tier match, so by channeling her power through me it would alter the affinities to something that would be more beneficial."

"Correct. There is no one else out there like Hayner. Don't lose him, don't let him go."

"I wasn't planning on it. I'm supposed to protect him, after all."

"Don't just be his knight, Seifer. Be his comrade, work as partners. Hayner's strong, probably more so than you really understand. If you do nothing but protect him from everything and don't let him take a few hits for you as well, you'll end up dead, and he'll be left to deal with it."

Sometimes it was hard to believe Cloud was merely twenty-five, two years older than Seifer himself. The detective didn't know the particulars, but he knew the mercenary had lived a rough, violent life, even more so than most of them. As a result, he seemed at least a decade older than he was, even after he was reminded how to smile by his lover.

"Thanks for the advice. We should probably go find Hayner before Roxas starts screaming at him."

They walked into the main room, only to find the other detective was already screaming into his phone at the sandy-blond. Hayner was valiantly trying to respond to his friend as he held the phone at arm's length. Zack seemed vaguely horrified that someone could be so damn loud over the phone. Sensing his companion needed rescuing, the scarred blond walked over and snatched the device out of his hand.

"Roxas, seriously, shut the fuck up," he said when the younger cop had paused for a breath. There was a moment of silence, in which he registered he was no longer speaking to Hayner, speaking in a much lower voice so he wouldn't be overheard by whoever might be listening.

"Seifer, what the fuck happened? You let Hayner get fucking kidnapped and tortured, how the hell are you so fucking incompetent? You leveled half a fucking city block too, it's your job to be subtle!" Another pause, "Did you at least get back at the guys who did this to him?"

"As best I know how," he returned, knowing the other would understand that meant that no one responsible had been left in one piece.

"Are you both okay? Be honest with me, dumbass, there's no way I could lose any respect for you, since I have none to begin with," he snapped, which was his way of saying he was worried.

"Just fine," and that was a lie, because he knew neither of them were really fine in any sense of the word, but it would be impossible to explain to Roxas exactly how damaged they were.

"You're lying. But whatever, just make sure you both survive. For whatever reason he likes you, I don't want to have to deal with him if he lost you too."

Too? Of course the spiky-haired Turk probably knew every detail of his friend's life, including the people he'd lost. _And no one cared to inform Seifer of any of this._

"I'll do my best. That all you wanted to say?"

"Do better than your best, your best isn't fucking good enough. Give me back to Hayner, I won't shout this time."

He handed the phone back, ignoring the searching look the teen gave him in favor of walking across the rooms and into the other's sleeping area. Picking up the pack of cigarettes he found there, he returned. Just as Hayner started fumbling for pockets that didn't exist and glancing at the tables, the detective strode over and handed the pack to him. The look of sheer gratitude in the other's eyes was well worth the effort, and so was his expression when he realized he didn't have a lighter. Feeling magnanimous, the magic-user lit the cigarette himself. The conversation passed quickly, then he shut his phone.

"Sorry for anything he might have said, Seifer, he was just pissed."

"No big deal, I'm used to dealing with the pissy little shit. I think that's why you two get along so well, you're both so angry all of the time."

He rolled his eyes, quirking a smile, then looked to the others in the room, "So, think you guys are up to taking down a team of twenty or so highly trained guards sitting on top of an armory?"

Cloud seemed to be calculating, but Zack just grinned and looked at his partner. The spiky-haired blond shrugged and nodded.

"Sounds like something our speed. So long as you guys are willing to pull your own weight. We can't protect you and take down that many guys at the same time."

"We'll do our part, I had no intention of becoming any more of a burden," the youngest answered, dark eyes sharp. Seifer would have been eager to see him fight someone better than a random street thug if he wasn't so worried about the sandy-blond man getting hurt.

"When do we need to do this?" Cloud prodded.

"Today if possible."

"No way in hell, Hayner. You need to-"

"What do I need to do, Seifer? We've lost enough time as it is. I'm fit to fight, and we need to move before their paranoia grows. That's what's different about Corneo's men, once a threat has been identified, if it's not seen for a while, rather than relaxing they just grow even more on edge. Wait much longer and they'll start shooting at their own shadows, we wouldn't be able to trick them into letting us get close."

"He makes a good point," Cloud weighed in unhelpfully, ignoring the glare the detective shot him. Hard brown eyes met ice blue ones, wills warring silently between them. Ultima's tendrils of thought sifted through his consciousness, whispering to let Hayner win. When he refused, she sent a spike of pain through his brain so violent he was on his knees before he even registered them giving beneath him.

"Seifer?" The other asked sharply, suddenly kneeling next to him.

"Ultima's trying to persuade him to your side with force, the meddling bitch. He'll be fine, so long as he relents," the younger mercenary explained from somewhere to his right.

A cool hand was pressed against the side of his face and the pain ebbed as he mentally agreed to the Scion's demands. Once he could actually see through the pain he realized Hayner's face was inches from his, eyes worried and searching.

"Your eyes turned white, it was freaky," the younger said by way of explanation as he sat back to give the other space, hand drawing away.

"Yeah, they do that sometimes," he deadpanned, standing and giving the smaller man a hand up.

"So I guess you have to go along with it? I'm sorry, that's not really what I had intended," he apologized genuinely.

"It's fine, whatever. Just don't get yourself shot this time."

He put his misgivings aside, knowing he couldn't make an argument lest he incur the wrath of the notoriously testy Esper. Maybe, for once in his life, something could actually go off without anyone getting their blood all over the ground. He wasn't holding his breath.

* * *

><p>Cloud and Zack, complete with massive swords, had taken the point once the fight started, the other two retreating behind the cover of a vehicle near the building to pick off a few of the enemies at a time. It was becoming increasingly obvious there were more than the original estimate. The mercenaries' protect spells were stopping the bullets for now, but even Hayner knew the spell had a tendency to fail at exactly the most inopportune time. He fired a few more shots around the cover, taking down another guard.<p>

"We're not making any ground, I'm going to have to start using magic. Their armor is making it nearly impossible to get a good kill shot, but it won't protect them against fire or lightning. I'm gonna need you to cover me, though, I can't really do much else while reciting spells, it takes a hell of a lot of concentration to pull off the ones that cover greater area. You've got my back, right?" Seifer asked, cold eyes watching him, measuring, trusting.

He remembered what Luxord had said to him about the other's partner issues, the amount of faith the detective had in him was frightening. He'd trust Hayner to cover him when he'd never let anyone else do so? Unable to count on his voice to keep his shock at the simple request hidden, he nodded solemnly and went back to shooting anyone who came close. A shot into a man's neck disabled him and he fell, just as the teen dove back down to avoid oncoming fire and switch to a fresh clip.

Fireballs engulfed another three guards, the acrid smell of burning flesh assaulting his nostrils as he spared his partner a glance. The older man's eyes were only half open but still glowed with the mana coursing through his body, his lips constantly moving through the syllables of the spell. Watching his lips form around the foreign words incessantly would have been erotic if he wasn't being shot at; as it was the motions were just terribly distracting.

A man dove over the hood of the car they were hiding behind, turning and almost successfully pinning Hayner to the vehicle before the brown-eyed man kicked him in the crotch and subsequently ripped off his helmet. A bullet between his eyes dropped him, his body twitching for a moment, but the killer's eyes were already watching from the window of the car at the rest of the scene. Lightning crashed down on the remaining figures, creating a shockwave powerful enough to rock the car and explaining why the spell Seifer was working on took so damn long.

They both stood and ran into the building, the mercenaries following close behind. Ten minutes of rooting around and they finally found what they were looking for, the sandy-blond tucking the discs into a large coat pocket. Two pairs of feet came barreling down the short set of stairs into the armory, someone shouting something and the distinct noise of a gun being fired simultaneously were all Hayner registered before he felt someone slide right up against his back. The bullet hit the floor with a metallic ting as he turned to see what the fuck had just happened. Zack had his Buster Sword in front of him in a guarding position. standing between the entrance and Hayner, and Seifer was holding up his badge with a gun pointed at the cop with a still-smoking gun.

And screaming at the top of his lungs.

"-is my fucking partner and if you ever so much as look at him again I will make you _wish _for death," and now he had the shorter cop by the throat, lifting the man clear off the floor in a stranglehold, his partner's eyes transfixed on the scene with horror, "You're fucking lucky I'm busy or I would shove that gun so far up your ass you'd never sit right again. By the way, you're supposed to _say freeze BEFORE_ _you fucking shoot at someone. _You can expect a lengthy probation order crossing your desk before the day is done, if you even get to keep your job."

He was still breathing heavily through his nose and hadn't yet let the choking man down. Walking around the man who'd saved him from a bullet in the back, he went to the detective. Seifer understood physical expressions better than verbal, with this in mind the younger blond wrapped his arms around the taller man's chest from behind, pressed against him comfortingly.

"Put him down, Seifer. I'm fine, he's not worth it."

All the anger the scarred man had ebbed away and he dropped the rookie cop as if the man's skin suddenly burned him. He landed hard on the ground, gasping and clutching at his throat dramatically. The nineteen year-old was completely sure the man beside him wouldn't have killed the cop, for all his fury; the man had a shield and wore blue and that was pretty much the only thing that saved his life, but it was enough.

Breaking the embrace and grabbing his arm, the man with ice-blue eyes started walking towards the exit, Cloud and Zack following on their heels. They moved quickly, Seifer all but dragging him along as they ran back to the Usual Spot, which was the nearest rendezvous they could come up with to wait at while the whole thing blew over. They sat on the concrete once inside, his guardian pulling him to sit between his spread legs and wrapping an arm around Hayner's chest to keep him close. The other still hadn't spoken since his tirade in the armory.

"Thanks for that, Zack," Hayner said to the mercenary belatedly, just remembering that the dark-haired man had saved his life.

"Any time, Hayner," the addressed answered genially, Cloud's head resting on his shoulder.

He relaxed into the man holding him around the chest, ignoring the his strange behavior for the time being; he'd just ask about it later. The officer almost shooting him dead had shaken the detective, where the massive firefight they were in hadn't even caused him to break a sweat. Then suddenly he felt like an idiot, because _of course _Seifer would be volatile on the subject of Hayner's mortality after recovering him post-torture, he's afraid of losing another friend on the job. And, naturally, because he is an insensitive _asshole_, the brown-eyed blond forced him to agree to entering another potentially fatal encounter an hour after they woke up.

Turning around in the man's one-armed embrace, he sat on his legs and held Seifer's face steady with both hands, forcing the other to look at him. His pale eyes were confused, the few inches of space between their faces charged.

"Hey. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine, and whatever's going through your head that's got you so riled up didn't happen. Friends don't die on each other, right? Stop beating yourself up over something that didn't even happen, okay?"

He nodded and the smaller man removed his hands and settled back into his previous position nestled against his guardian. Cloud and Zack shared a look, apparently able to communicate via telepathy because they quirked tiny smiles at roughly the same time before shifting their attentions back to the other pair. They waited another twenty minutes before Olette arrived dressed in non-descript street clothes to pick up the evidence. She hugged her old friend and they exchanged a few words before she left, heading back to the station to leave the discs in Tseng's capable hands.

The mercenaries bid their farewells and went back to where they'd stashed their bikes so they could head back to the place they were staying in town, Hayner and Seifer making their way back to their own hotel, apparently satisfied that they were now capable of defending themselves. There was still something in the air between the two blonds as they started walking back to the hotel in silence, but the teen let it slide. If Seifer wanted to talk, he'd talk, and if not, his companion wasn't going to press it.

"It's a grounding technique taught by the military and the police. Hold onto something of meaning to you, be it your friend, your gun, your shield or your tags, and just sit there until the world makes sense again. It's mostly used as a shock-prevention after a traumatic situation."

"So what was so traumatic about that cop shooting at me that wasn't so bad about the thirty or forty other guys shooting at me?"

"One of my own almost murdered someone I cared about right in front of me."

"The worst kind of betrayal," the shorter man mumbled, the picture shifting and slotting into place, explaining exactly what had gotten his friend so damn fucked up over it.

"You really going to get that guy fired? He was probably-"

"Don't. Don't ever make excuses for that. It would have been cold-blooded murder, and if he'd done it to someone out alone without witnesses he would have gotten away with it. It's up to Tseng what happens, but he'll face at least a probation for failure to observe proper procedure. If it was up to be he'd be dead with his throat ripped out by now."

"You're a pretty violent guy, but even when you're pissed with me you won't..." He trailed off, not really sure if he wanted to go there now that the words were half out of his mouth.

"Hit you? If you learn nothing more about me from the time we spend together, remember that I will never, _ever_ lash out in anger at someone I care about. Pinning you to things to get you to fucking listen is about the most physical I will ever get in a situation where I'm angry. I protect people with violence, it's what I do. Being violent to the people I'm sworn to protect is completely ass backwards."

"Almost sounds like you're familiar with domestic abuse, you're pretty serious about the whole no-hitting thing," he prodded, realizing he was truly making a complete asshat of himself today.

"In the line of work, I've dealt with domestic violence cases, but even before that I've never struck someone close to me."

"Sorry, that was just...completely fucking out of line. I'm being an asshole today, aren't I?"

"So I've noticed, but it's fine. You've had a rough week, I forgive you," the older man shrugged.

"Just because we're friends doesn't mean you have to make excuses for me," he returned, pulling out a cigarette. He had just put the tobacco stick to his lips and pulled out his lighter when it lit itself, Seifer smirking.

"Your questions really don't bother me that much. I've got a pretty tough skin, and you are just adorable enough that it's hard to stay mad at you."

He could feel a hot blush spread across his face as he accidentally inhaled smoke too fast and ended up coughing, "I-I am not cute! Why the hell do you say shit like that?"

There was something predatory about his wide smirk, eyes glinting, "Because you react like that. It amuses me to fluster you."

Hayner glared and swore under his breath, the blue-eyed man ruffling his hair just to tick him off further. He liked it though, the way they shifted easily back into companionship. He'd miss this.

"You did a good job back there. For someone used to working alone, you're good at covering someone."

"Well I have a personal investment," he retorted, brushing off the compliment.

"You sure you're okay? It's...not normal to just bounce back after that kind of brutality. Be honest with me, Hayner," he asked, watching the other in the shadow of the alley they were walking through, brows furrowed enough to twist the scar between his eyes.

"I think your Esper fucked with my head. I remember it, but it seems...distant. Like it happened years ago. I...I'll handle it. You're not exactly a licensed therapist."

"Zexion told me. What you did for him, and how the Don reacted."

His heart stuttered in his chest and he froze, Seifer stopping next to him, blue eyes sharp. Fuck, no one was supposed to know that, much less someone who could use it against him like the other man could.

"You're asking if that was worse? Yeah. My own father drove a knife into my chest, didn't miss my heart by much. I was honestly disappointed when I woke up from the coma. These guys, at least they weren't related to me."

Anger and sorrow mixed in Seifer's expression as his right hand twitched slightly, most likely itching to rip the Don's throat out, if the younger man knew his guardian. It was really too bad violence wasn't the answer this one time, he'd much like to see Corneo torn to pieces by his own son's knight. But unfortunately, the situation called for a more subtle form of justice.

"Had you met Jack at that point, or was that later?" The detective's voice had gone soft, he knew he was treading on thin ice.

He'd probably figure it out sooner or later anyways, "He was waiting for me when I woke up. Jack was a good friend turned bodyguard. Joined the mob to support himself, he'd been living on the streets for a few years. Was a year and a half older than me."

"When did you start dating?"

"So you did put it all together. Not long after that. A few days before my seventeenth birthday. He was killed two weeks after our two year anniversary. So, about five months ago."

He felt defeated, tired. Hayner didn't want to talk about this ever, with anyone. But it wouldn't be long before the mission came to an end, so he might as well tell someone the truth. On some level, Seifer deserved to know.

"I told him to leave the mob, to run away and disappear. Over and over, but he always refused. He stayed with the organization so he could be close to me. His brother ratted him out in exchange for drugs, he was terminated for being gay, right in front of me. And I'm such a fucking coward I just let him bleed out on the ground, couldn't tell him I loved him...Just to save my own goddamn life, I knew they'd kill me too if I did. He was only there because he loved me, and I couldn't...He died for me, and I was too damn selfish to die there with him."

His face was wet and he felt like such a fucking moron for crying over this again. The older blond pulled him into a tight embrace, one hand going up to tangle in the hair at the back of his head. He returned it, he knew he didn't deserve to be comforted over this, but he wanted it. Fuck, he hated being this weak. Burying his face in the other's shoulder, he just stood there and let the man's warmth seep into him. For the moment the scarred man didn't speak, though there was that air about him like he had a lot of things to say.

After about ten minutes of this he let go and made to back away, but Seifer held him firmly at arm's length, as if afraid he was going to bolt. Which was exactly what he was planning on.

"As much as you won't believe me, your boyfriend's death wasn't your fault. He chose to stay. He would have wanted you to live, and I doubt he ever questioned that you loved him, even if you didn't say so in his last moments. The only people who are at fault are the ones who pulled the trigger, and if memory serves, you killed them. You don't have to let go yet, but stop beating yourself up over something that you couldn't have changed. Cloud did that for years and it got to the point where he almost offed himself over it."

He looked away, knowing it was a stupid idea but unable to stop his reply of "So? What if I did?"

It was hardly shocking when he was grabbed by the front of his shirt and yanked into Seifer's personal space, but the hot rage burning in the man's eyes was. The detective looked like he wanted to throttle the life out of him.

"You know how bad it hurt when Jack died? How bad it still hurts? Think of doing that to the people who know you. If you give a damn about any of your friends don't you dare even think about it. Don't do that to Roxas, Pence, Olette, Reno, Axel, Zexion, Demyx, Tseng...Don't do that to me," he ended quietly, both his expression and overall body language genuinely, heartbreakingly sad. Well fuck, if he hadn't cocked things up badly enough yet, he supposed he had now.

"Sorry, Seifer. I didn't mean-"

"Yeah, you did. You're the shittiest actor ever, but still...I know it hurts, and it feels like you're better off dead so you can't keep hurting others, but you need to live, Hayner. It may not seem like it, but the pain gets better after time. Forgive yourself, and live the life Jack would have wanted you to have. I'm willing to bet he wanted to steal you away from the mob as well, right?"

"He did. It was one of the things he was planning on doing, once he got wind of the scheme I was working with Tseng on. Figured we could escape in the ensuing chaos," he laughed bitterly, feeling more tears pricking at the back of his eyes.

"I'll finish the job for him, then. Come on Hayner, let's head back before someone notices we're gone," he said resolutely, pulling his companion along by the wrist he had a strong grip on. It was clear the normally serious detective was being intentionally upbeat, and as patronizing as the effort was, it was appreciated.

"You act like you know what it's like, to lose someone and blame yourself for it. Just because of Cloud, or...?" He was curious, and if he'd given everything up like that, he deserved something in return.

"When I started out trafficking magical artifacts, I wasn't working alone. I didn't drag Fuu or Rai into it, of course. It wasn't safe for them and I wasn't going to take them down with me. I worked with a girl named Yuffie for a while, before she ran off to parts unknown, and after that I worked with a guy who insisted I call him 'Shadow', which was pretty much the most asinine thing I'd ever heard. We ran together for three months before I fucked up on the intel and we ended up in way more shit than we expected. He died, I ran. Never even knew his real name."

The cold, factual way he expressed the story was telling enough of how much he still regretted what happened. His eyes were distant, and when he finally looked back to his partner, he seemed braced for some kind of judgment.

"I'm sorry, I don't...Most people die in that profession, it wasn't entirely your fault," it didn't escape his notice that he was so quick to forgive the blue-eyed man for something he couldn't forgive himself for. Double standards were easy to fall back on.

"I learned to forgive myself a long time ago, just because I knew I couldn't keep wasting the life I had by living in the past."

_But you weren't in love with the man you ended up getting killed,_ Hayner thought to himself, though he outwardly projected thoughtfulness, as if he was really mulling over the information. By the time he let the mask fall they were back at the hotel. They went to their separate rooms, though Seifer did give him a warning about the dire consequences of leaving this time. He went to continue his report and contact Tseng to make sure he received the data, and Hayner went into his room to smoke and replay today's events in his head. He wondered just when he'd lost their little game so terribly that he didn't even notice he was in check before it was too late.

Later that night he was drinking out of a wine stem while listening to Roxas talk about his day with that barely-restrained tension he spoke with when he was angry. The older man mentioned something incredibly deprecating about Seifer and he bit out a reply about leaving the scarred blond the fuck alone.

To which his spiky-haired and mostly-drunk friend replied, "What the fuck, 's he your boyfriend now, Hayner? That worked out great last time."

He snapped the phone shut as the wine glass shattered in his hand from the sudden pressure he unintentionally put on it. Even if he knew Roxas didn't mean what he said, that didn't necessarily make it untrue. Hayner was too friendly with his knight, and he knew that, but at the same time knew that if he stopped being so the other man would pry. Glancing down at the mess of dark liquid and glass in his right hand, he swore.

The next few minutes were spent staring at it in the faint light from a lamp he had next to his bed, watching the blood from the cuts mingle with the purplish wine, sprinkled with glinting bits of clear glass. Vaguely he was aware he was crying and probably cut the most pathetic figure ever. Naturally, Seifer chose this moment to knock on the half open door and proceed into the room without confirmation, barely giving his charge time to wipe the tears off his face before he was right next to him. _Fucking hell_.

"Axel just called me. Said Roxas is blackout drunk and said some things he shouldn't have. That I should check on you," a sigh, "Guess he was right. Come on, let's get that cleaned up."

And because the larger man tended to fail on social cues such as 'people crying into alcohol would rather be left alone', he immediately swept his friend in a bridal-style carry and headed for the bathroom. Setting him down, he pulled Hayner's hand over to the sink and washed the blood and wine mix off, letting the water run a little longer to clean the cuts out. He lifted the teen to sit on the small counter next to the sink and set about picking out the pieces that had dug themselves in.

At some point he realized Seifer was probably operating under the assumption that he was utterly trashed, which made this the perfect opportunity to do what he'd been wanting to do ever since he saw the scar between the man's eyes. He traced the mark gently with his fingers, noting the way those impossibly pale eyes flicked up to meet his before moving back down to watch his work. Definitely thought he was drunk off his ass.

It was smooth and a little deeper than he expected, but it was...interesting. It was probably incredibly rude and strange to find it attractive, but it just seemed to fit Seifer, like he wouldn't be quite the same without it. If not for that scar, he probably never would have become a cop, a detective, or a Turk, and would have never met Hayner. Perhaps it really would have been better that way.

"Hey, stop that. Leave the thinking to me for the moment, alright? You're shit at it."

He settled for glaring at the detective, knowing that he really couldn't say anything without giving away that he'd been only half a glass into it. While Roxas seemed to be gifted with the ability to be completely coherent up to the point where he passed out, most people were not. Alcohol and apathy had dulled the pain in his hand enough that he barely noticed when the older blond had stopped pulling out glass pieces and set his hand down. A healing spell knit the gashes back together, faint white lines that would probably fade soon the only indicator anything had happened.

"On a scale of one to ten, how hosed are you?"

"Not enough," he returned with a sigh, draping his arms across the other's shoulders and resting his head on them.

Shaking his head, Seifer lifted him by the waist, most likely planning to set him down on his feet, but Hayner decided now was an opportune time to wrap his legs around the magic-user's middle. Maybe he was a little too good at playing drunk. The cop gave a long-suffering sigh and carried him back into the bedroom, dumping him unceremoniously on the bed. This was how Seifer did gentle, warm but practical. He ruffled the sandy-blond's hair and moved to leave, but the younger man latched onto his wrist.

"You're really not this drunk," it was a statement, not a question.

"No, but we could continue to pretend like I am."

Nodding, the taller man crawled into bed a little further in than his companion liked to lay, waiting till Hayner joined him under the covers before laying on his side and wrapping an arm around the teen. It seemed normal, to curl his arms against Seifer's chest and curve into him, as if they'd been doing this for years.

"This should be weird," the blue-eyed man commented, deep voice barely above a whisper.

"And I should be drunk. I suppose if we were being truthful, both of us should be dead, as well."

As he started to fade into sleep, he thought that maybe, in the end, all was as it should be.

* * *

><p>He was sitting at a bar, he wasn't really sure where but it seemed vaguely familiar. Seifer was sitting beside him, and they were both smoking. This was his first indication that he was dreaming, but he decided against taking the step of opening his eyes to instead see how this would pan out.<p>

"Fucking Ultima is making us dream share. Seriously, is she like the gods' matchmaker now? I assume you've already figured out that this is a dream," Seifer added, bright eyes turning to look at him as the older man took a drag on his cigarette.

"What the hell is dream sharing? You mean…I'm dreaming the same thing you are, and we're both aware of it? How do I know you're not just a figment of my imagination?"

"Well, I am, technically. Same way you are to me. But we're both having the same dream, basically, and can interact with each other. I suppose another difference is that you'll remember most of what you dream tonight. We're real, but at the same time, not. It's hard to explain, just roll with it."

"I don't think I've ever heard a worse explanation of anything ever, and someone once tried to regale me of the intricacies of quantum physics while drunk."

"Fuck you."

"You're supposed to at least take me out to dinner first, where is your sense of romance? Anyway, why are you smoking in your own dream? Or is it my dream?" Hayner asked, more than a little confused with the whole situation.

"It's _our_ dream. And…I always smoke in my dreams. I guess it's my subconscious's way of telling me I'm not quite over the addiction. At least this way it doesn't destroy my lungs, right?"

"You seem pretty familiar with the whole dream-sharing thing. Like you've done it once or twice before. How exactly is Ultima doing this anyways?"

"Sometimes I dream share with others who have successfully joined with Ifrit, there's about a dozen or so that I know of, including Axel. I once shared with Cloud when he was seriously contemplating suicide, I guess the High Seraph wanted me to talk one of her favorite toys out of ending his existence. To explain how it works I have to first explain that when you master a summon, or they allow you to use them, they twine with your consciousness like a vine on a tree. Separated, but symbiotic, and able to alter things in small ways. The more powerful the Esper, the greater pull they have on the summoner's mind.

"To say that Zodiark and Ultima could take over my consciousness whenever they want is an understatement, if they wanted they could literally erase any and all of my memories and turn me into a puppet. It's happened to a few people. But for the time being they find me interesting enough to keep around. …And apparently Ultima junctioned with you when I wasn't looking. She hasn't completely melded with you yet, but the seed is there. If you accept it, by wearing her artifact, she'll probably proceed with the meld. If not, she'll do obnoxious shit like making you share dreams with me until you do."

"So because she has a foot in the door to my head and yours wrapped around her little finger she can temporarily merge them in a dream? Can I take a moment to explain to you how that makes no sense from a psychological standpoint?" He bit back, not remotely comfortable with the idea that his mind was being completely invaded by the Scion of Light.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but magic doesn't follow the rules."

"Right, of course not. So what's her point in doing this?"

"We need to talk. And here in the dream world, you can't run away."

"That's not threatening at all. I assume I have no choice in the matter?"

"None whatsoever. Look, I know you just ignored what I said today about forgiving yourself, and I maybe overreacted a little. I can't force you to live. I don't have a right to your life, what you do with it is your choice, including ending it. As your friend it's my job to make you _want _to live, even when it seems like there's no point, rather than trying to guilt you into carrying on when it causes you pain."

"Is this a veiled apology for being a selfish dick earlier? 'Cause if so you really don't have to ask forgiveness, it's a knee-jerk reaction," he paused, waiting for a response, and upon receiving none, continued, "So what you're saying is that you just want me to stop hurting, even if the only way is jumping off a building?"

"I hope that's not your answer, but yeah. That's what friends are supposed to do, right?" He added, as if he wasn't entirely sure. Hayner supposed he didn't have a ton of people he put into that category, for all that he was friendly with the person he was assigned to guard, it seemed like he wasn't normally so easy to get along with.

"You are both more talkative and more sensitive in the dream world. I have a feeling this is just some elaborate ruse my subconscious has come up with in an attempt to save itself from an untimely fate."

"Hey, I'm not that much of an ass outside. But, the dream world is like being drunk, it removes your most of your inhibitions by taking away all external reasons for maintaining them."

"So you're a cuddly, sweet drunk then?" The younger man ventured with a smirk.

"No, I'm more of a 'pick fights with everyone bigger than me and proceed to beat them into submission' drunk, which is why I don't get drunk anymore. Getting thrown out of bars is only fun the first dozen or so times. I'm only nice around you and the other Turks."

"You were nice to Kairi and Namine," he reminded the scarred man.

"Of course I'm polite to women, chicks are scary. If you fuck with a guy you just punch it out and everyone leaves bloody and forgiven. Mess with a woman and she will _ruin. Your. Life._"

"I guess I never really realized. But then, all of my disagreements with men were solved with a well-placed bullet, and I don't come into contact with a lot of women."

"Speaking of scary women, are you planning on taking the Queen Bitch up on her offer?"

"You seriously call Ultima the 'Queen Bitch'? And she doesn't destroy you over it?"

He shrugged, "I think she's kind of proud of it, to be honest."

"I really don't know…Do you want me to? Can't she read our thoughts and share them with each other?" The older man nodded, "It would basically remove any privacy between us if we let it. I don't really want that kind of responsibility, I don't have a right to your thoughts, I don't want access to anything not freely given."

"She'd be able to protect you, as well as find you much more easily if you were fully junctioned."

"I'm capable of defending myself, thanks. I may not be as numb to pain as you are, but I can handle myself in most situations."

"I know you are, you're a pretty tough bitch. That doesn't mean you won't be overpowered and either kidnapped again or outright killed. If it means you're safe, I'm fine with the meddling Esper whispering all my dark secrets to you. You're life is more important than my privacy."

"I can't tell if you're all talk or not."

"Could be, I guess. You won't know unless you test it, right?"

"So do you want me to accept Ultima as my guardian angel, or don't you? I'm pretty confused by all the mixed messages you're sending."

"I'm saying there are both good things about it and bad things. It's called honesty, you should really try it sometime. I'm surprised you don't have water as your primary element, you're deceptive enough for it."

"I'll think about the junction issue. As for honesty…I'm not very good at that anymore."

"It'll come back, with time. I didn't think I'd ever mellow out from the selfish, insufferable asshole I used to be, but…I guess as I got older and gained a little more life experience I realized there was really no point in trying to be a thug now that I had a legitimate way of meting out justice," the blue-eyed blond mused, taking another pull of his never-ending cigarette. It was curious, no matter how long they smoked them, the sticks of tobacco never got shorter.

"You're still not the friendliest person, to most people anyways. In fact you weren't all that friendly to me when we first met."

"I'm not going to go out of my way to be nice to people unless I need to do so for my job, or they're in trouble. I don't want a ton of friends, especially not ones who can't hold their own, because if you haven't noticed most of the people around me die."

"Yeah, guess I could say the same. Hey, Seifer?"

The larger man made a noise of acknowledgment, eyes tilting to look at him.

"Do you trust me?"

"Definitely shouldn't, but yeah, I trust you. I let you watch my back today, didn't I? Trust you with my life, Hayner, only thing I can't really trust you with is your own."

"Lux told me about what happened with your partner on the force."

"So he did. Suppose he told you I'm too bitchy to accept anyone else, too?"

He hummed, then said, "Doesn't it wear you out? Always pushing people away, I mean. Just because he betrayed you doesn't mean everyone will."

"This may shock you, but I'm absolutely fine with only having a few good friends. I don't need a partner to function effectively, if someone comes along who I actually want to be my other half, sure I'll let them. But I haven't met a cop like that yet."

"Maybe you're just being too picky about it? I mean, just because you don't click immediately doesn't mean it won't work out in the end."

"Or maybe you should just become a cop."

It rolled off his tongue so easily, the words floating between them as if unaware of their own gravity, that for a moment Hayner was certain he'd misheard the stoic blond. When it finally registered, he gave the other a blank look and tried in vain to form words. Seifer rolled his eyes and ruffled his companion's hair, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Think you'd be good at it, to be honest. You're a good kid, you take responsibility for your actions, sometimes way too much. Wouldn't mind dragging your stupid ass around. You wanted to be a detective anyways, right?"

"You know, if you keep saying shit like that, I'm going to start taking it seriously," the brown-eyed man ventured carefully. He knew his counterpart would understand his reluctance to take the offer at face value, they were both distrusting as a defense mechanism.

"It's hard to explain, but…I like you. I know for a fact we have things in common that most of the population can't even begin to understand, and I admire your tenacity. You're obnoxious, excessively depressed, bitchy, and so prone to bodily harm I'm beginning to think I should just lock you in a padded room, but you still manage to be likeable, somehow."

"Well, I guess you're okay, for an asshole with a self-sacrifice complex."

They laughed easily; though the strangeness of new friendship remained, it really was friendship now, a vast improvement from whatever it was they had before. Seifer made him feel comfortable, even if the other asked questions and spoke of things that made Hayner less than so at times.

"So, did you want to continue this shared dream, or do you want me to let you go back to your own head?"

"How do we get out?" He inquired, genuinely curious to know how one escaped a lucid dream, or whatever you could consider this.

"Usually asking the Esper forming the connection to sever it works," the detective answered, as if it was obvious, then continued, "What, you didn't expect to have to kill yourself or something, did you?"

"You are such an ass. But no, if you don't mind, I'd rather stay. You're an amusing drunk."

"That was an _analogy_, you idiot," the blue-eyed man snapped, before rolling his eyes and kicking the stool out from under his friend. Just to be obtuse, Hayner remained floating where he'd been. This was also his dream, after all.

"So, if this is our dream, why the hell are we so boring that we dreamed we were at a bar?"

"Easier to introduce you to the idea if we started out somewhere fairly familiar rather than say, in an active volcano or at the bottom of the ocean."

He had a point, the sandy-blond teen would have flipped out if they tried to have this conversation in either of those places. Though it did give him a few ideas. He thought of the last time he visited Wutai in the palace of one of the larger drug lords, the opulence there, the smell of incense and the beautiful women in full kimonos walking serenely about their tasks.

"You're better at this than I thought, though we should work on not taking stuff with us when we change the scenery," Seifer said, something odd in his voice, almost like fascination or awe.

Blinking and turning to look at him, the younger realized he'd managed to change the area around them, and were now sitting at a bar in the middle of the grand hall of the very place he'd been thinking of. He wondered if only memories could be used, or if they could make things up too. For the moment though, it was clear his friend wanted to explore the area, so he set his feet on the ground and followed behind the larger man as they traversed the corridors covered in golds, reds and deep sea colors.

* * *

><p>They awoke in much the same position as they had fallen asleep, and it was still a bit disconcerting how comfortable it was to be so near to someone they each barely knew. He wondered if all affinity pairs were like this, magnetically drawn to one another.<p>

"Well that was…interesting," he voiced groggily, shifting slightly away to allow more room for them to speak.

"Better than nightmares, at least?" The older man answered, similarly rough.

"I dunno, sharing an entire day with you after doing the exact same thing while I was awake? I think that should count as torture."

"Yeah, whatever. I've known people who would kill for the chance to sleep with me, and all you do is bitch," he returned, smirking wide at his pun and the way it made his companion blush when he realized what the other implied.

"Somehow I don't think I'm really missing out on much," Hayner quipped back, watching the way ice-colored eyes slanted to watch him with a predatory glare, like a wolf eyeing potential prey. It was incredibly arrogant to assume he could always get what he wanted, but it probably wasn't all that far from reality. If they were both strangers in a club and Hayner was a little less damaged, he'd definitely let Seifer pick him up, maybe even just to see if he could hear the story about the scar.

"Your loss, I guess," the detective answered finally, carefully neutral as he sat up.

They got out of bed and milled around for an hour before actually managing to accomplish anything. Seifer cleaned his guns, twice, constantly glancing at his companion who was sitting opposite him on one of the other couches. Hayner went through half a pack of cigarettes before they even got their breakfast. It was hard to tell exactly what they were so anxious about, waiting for Tseng to answer back on whether the evidence was enough to secure a warrant or not, or the very idea that the next few days would be the most important parts of the whole process. A single fuck up could not only kill them both, but doom the operation. No one could disappear like mafia men who knew they were being hunted.

The call from Tseng came in at two twenty-three in the afternoon. They had been walking around the city aimlessly for several hours, trying to work off their excess energy. The district judge had issued a warrant for the arrest of Don Corneo and any of his accomplices, effective immediately. Hayner breathed deep and told the Chief of Police that they'd continue as planned, to which he received a long moment of silence.

"Are you sure, Hayner? I had assumed you would have changed your mind by now."

"It's just better the way I planned it."

"You're just going to keep him in the dark until the end, aren't you?"

"And beyond that, if possible."

A sigh, "You are, irreconcilably, an idiot, Hayner. But if that's how you want to go, it's far out of my power to stop you."

"Take care of things for me, won't you? Tomorrow night."

"Understood, we'll be ready."

He ended the call and turned to look at Seifer, giving him a reassuring smile and the news that they could go ahead with the plan.

"Are you actually going to tell me what that is, or do I have to continue assuming the worst?"

"Assume the worst. Just follow my lead, you're good enough at reading me. You know everything there is to know, you won that little game of ours after all. Check and mate."

"You can never really know a person, and I can't say I'm comfortable with not knowing what you're doing. I can't protect you if I'm too busy trying to figure out what the fuck is going on."

"You'll do fine. Just trust me, Seifer."

"That's not going to work this time, and you know it. I'm not going to let you die in some heroic attempt to rid the world of both yourself and your father, understand?"

Hayner scoffed and stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets. He didn't feel like explaining everything, just because he knew the other wouldn't like it. Even if it was the only way things would work. It irritated the fuck out of him that Seifer just simply didn't get it.

"Then ensure that I don't die. That's not too hard, it's your job, isn't it?" He answered finally, continuing to walk towards the edge of the city.

"Dammit Hayner, this is not the time for mind games," the detective said as he followed, a mix of resignation and anger in his voice.

"Look, just shut the fuck up and do your goddamn job and maybe everything will work out."

He knew he was being unnecessarily nasty, just as he knew the other had stopped walking, mouth hanging open just a little bit as the younger just continued on. This was how it had to be, he couldn't go through with this otherwise. He just hardly expected to have so many ties to the older man that he needed to sever. Taking a drag of his cigarette, he breathed deeply and tried not to think of how the taste of smoke now reminded him of their dream.

"So why are you trying to push me away now, of all times? That offer to live with me wasn't said for my benefit. Just because the operation is ending doesn't mean our interactions with each other have to."

"Because us being friends was never part of the plan, and quite frankly you're going to fuck everything up if we continue this way. So if you put any value on what we've been working towards and all the blood we've spilled up to this point, you'll do your damndest to stop giving a shit about me and just do what I tell you to."

"And if I value your safety above everything else?"

"Then you're an idiot."

Seifer fell silent, though his simmering frustration was loud enough by itself. The brown-eyed man hated this, both the idea that his companion trusted him so much, and knowing he'd have to betray that trust. With a sigh of blue smoke and a quickened pace, he steered them towards the clock tower. As they ascended the steps, the detective deigned to speak again.

"So in the end, has any of this really mattered to you?"

"Yeah, it has. Thanks for what you've done."

"You're really bad at pretending to be an ass, you do know that, right?"

For some reason, the blue-eyed blond just refused to accept that maybe he should give up on Hayner, and it was stirring something that felt kind of like twisted hope in his chest. He sat on the edge of the top of the clock tower, shivering slightly from the cold wind that blew stronger this high up. The other sat close beside him, warming the side he pressed against. Aside from the wind, it was quiet up here, far away from the sounds of the commercial district. Sometimes he would come here with Roxas and the rest of the group, a few times he took his boyfriend up here. That was actually the last time he came here, it was just a few days before Jack died. He swung his legs a little and stared down at the ground so very far below.

"You said before that the Espers could destroy you at any time if they wanted to…Do you ever get scared about that? Or wonder exactly how much of your actions are your own, and not them leading you in that direction?"

"Sometimes. I'd be lying if I said I don't worry that they'll grow bored of me and drain my life force so they can stay in our world for a few days and wreak havoc. And I think in a lot of ways the path we walk wasn't chosen by us alone. Just as we had no control over being a perfect affinity match, we don't control where we start out. And as much as we hate to admit it, we're products of our environment."

"So we are a match then? I kind of agree with you, some sort of cosmic joke on that one. As far as being products of our environment…I'd say there's a difference between letting your environment shape who you become, and letting the environment shape our perception of things. For example, if you merely sat back and let what you've lived through change who you are, you probably would still be trafficking and doing other illegal things rather than a detective."

"But instead, I take what I've learned and use it in a way people like me normally wouldn't, right?"

"Exactly. We can bitch about where we started out, but that doesn't always determine where we end up. People like you and Reno prove that."

"But not you?"

"Nope. I am exactly what I was raised to be. A murderer with allegiance only to himself."

"You are nowhere near that cool, quit lying to yourself."

"I like how your idea of emotional support is to be a complete dick. You are the most well-intentioned asshole ever."

"Only for you, since you're the only pathetic sap who uses phrases like 'emotional support' that I choose to deal with."

"I think I've heard Roxas use it before. Repeating something Axel said."

"I said choose to deal with. I don't choose to deal with Axel or Roxas, I just have to. It's not pleasant."

"I think secretly you like the other Turks, you're just too busy maintaining your image to admit it. Beyond respecting them, I think you consider them friends, in a vague sense of the word."

"It's my job to psychoanalyze, not yours. Quit that," he snapped, smirking around his words.

"You're the one who wants me to become a detective so I can be your partner."

"Only if you want to. Judging by the fact that you seem to have a serious death wish, I don't think you really give a damn."

He swung his legs again, trying to judge the distance between them and the steps going into the Clock Tower below. Seifer slung an arm around his shoulders and held him a little tighter than was comfortable, dangling on the edge of painful.

"We're here for a reason, Hayner. All of us. There's a reason you and I met, despite all the odds against it, and it wasn't so I could watch you die after knowing you for a few days."

That was probably the closest the older man had gotten to pleading, and something inside the teen shattered beyond fixing. This would all end badly, and there was little he could do.

* * *

><p>Seifer rarely felt apprehensive about anything; his way of going about life was to always look before he leaped, but do it regardless of what he found. He never let the idea that he could die doing something stop him. However, in this case, it was someone else who was probably not going to make it, and that was far more unsettling than it should have been. The worst part was he had no idea what was going to happen, just that he had to stop it. It was like trying to hit a target at fifty paces blindfolded.<p>

They had left the Clock Tower behind them a few hours ago, just now getting back to the hotel. They sat next to each other this time, though the other didn't seem aware of their proximity. Hayner was suspiciously silent, dark eyes distant. The detective was tempted to ask Ultima what was going on in the teen's head, but he tried to save friendship-ending trespasses of privacy for when it was a little closer to the wire.

Not for the first time he came to the startling realization that they had known each other just a little over a week. He knew that affinity matches got along well naturally, because that was really the whole point, but still. At what point did he become such a fucking sap that he actually gave a damn about his charge's mental well being?

"That necklace you have, did Vaan give it to you?" It had been bothering him since he noticed it, he couldn't think of any other way the sandy-blond man could have come by it.

"Yeah, he didn't exactly tell me what it did though, just said it would keep me safe. I promised him I'd wear it, that's really the only reason I do. Do you know what it is?"

"Mmhm, though it took me a while. Technically it probably shouldn't even exist. It's an amalgam of shards of powerful magical artifacts. It shifts colors, and from what I can tell it was made from the magic of a Life materia, wind and water magicite, Luck materia, and a summon, though I can't really tell which. It's feasible to use a stone with magical properties and force feed it the mana of other bits of artifacts until they all work in tandem, but I've never heard of anyone doing so successfully. Vaan worked long and hard on that, and he made it specifically for you."

"Because he put the wind and water magicite in it? But…what does it do?"

"I honestly can't tell you precisely what all the parts in combination amount to. Like I said, no one was even sure it was really possible. I could probably use the Life magic in order to revive you if I was close, and the Luck magic is self-explanatory. The magicites are intended to boost elemental power, but you don't really have any magic-using capabilities, and the summon is completely out of left field."

"I think this is the first time you've admitted that you just have no fucking clue about something."

"Well, even I can't know everything."

"I'm shocked, truly I am. You mean there's something that Seifer Almasy doesn't know?"

Rolling his eyes, he gave the smaller man a rough shove, watching him topple over to sprawl on the couch. He looked different in his hoodie, jeans and shoes with the ridiculous rainbow shoelaces. Whenever he wore one of his suits he acted differently, as if what he wore affected who he pretended to be. Though something about the hooded sweatshirt stood out to him now that he was paying attention.

"Your sweatshirt, it was Jack's, wasn't it?"

"You…how the hell do you do that?"

"The material is a little stretched in the arms, as if someone with about twice your musculature wore it for a long time. Besides that, it's pretty large on you, and most of your other clothes fit fairly snugly," that sounded a lot less borderline stalker in his head.

"He gave it to me about a year ago, it was his favorite. He really liked this color," it was a dark blue, impeccably clean, and had the symbol for Light embroidered in white on the left pocket.

"How did you meet?"

"At a bar, naturally. I knew the bartender, he was vaguely involved with the mob, scoping out potential fighters for the underground rings. So I went there to drink occasionally. Well, more than occasionally, I'd get completely trashed about every night just trying to get everything off my mind. Anyway, this particular night someone decided to slip something into my drink. I lost consciousness, and by the time the bartender noticed something was wrong, the guy was walking out the door with me. Jack, being the knight in shining armor he was, broke my kidnapper's face, dragged me back inside, and ended up taking me back to my hotel.

"He volunteered to be my bodyguard once he found out who I was and that I wasn't a dick. At some point, I fell in love with him, and we slept together several times before we quite realized what we were doing, not necessarily in that order. We didn't start really dating until five months after I originally met him. With Kairi and Namine as my cover girlfriends, no one questioned what exactly he and I got up to in the suite."

"Sounds like he was a genuinely good person."

"A little like you, he couldn't ignore someone in need. He didn't really think about it, he just saw someone that needed help and helped them, regardless of the risk of personal injury."

At some point the younger blond had started smoking again, slowly blowing the smoke up towards the ceiling as he spoke. The scarred man wished he had anything to say that wouldn't be an empty consolation.

"You don't drink very frequently now, why'd you stop?"

"I didn't have anyone to rescue me anymore."

They were silent for a while, minutes stretching to hours as the other smoked and the detective brooded. At some point Hayner set down his cigarettes and rolled over to face the couch, curling up like he was trying to go to sleep. Reciting the sleep spell he knew so well by now, he watched the other relax as he stilled. Standing, he leaned over and scooped the teen up, carrying him to his bed. After some deliberation over what was and wasn't okay between new friends, he shrugged and removed everything on the smaller man except the hoodie he was burrowed into and his boxers. Throwing the covers over him, the blue-eyed blond sat down beside the bed, leaning back against it. He pulled his left leg up towards his chest and rested an elbow on it, using his arm as a headrest while he continued to mull over the situation. He closed his eyes for a moment, and in the next he had fallen asleep.

* * *

><p>They'd spent the day alternately yelling at one another and silently sitting next to each other, the hours dragged endlessly as they fidgeted, waiting for the sun to fall below the horizon. After it did, Hayner left to make a few final calls and then gestured for the detective to follow him downstairs. He explained briefly on the ride there that they were headed to the docks, pier fifty three to be precise. Both it and the warehouse next to it were known smuggling hot spots, he supposed it would make sense to call the mob to somewhere they felt safe.<p>

Seifer waited while his charge officially dismissed his driver, telling the man to drive far, far away, then followed him to wait at the edge of the pier, looking out at the ocean. A tiny sliver of moon was just peeking over the water to the side, doing its best to paint the black water silver. It was quiet, aside from the distant sound of the buoys further out and the occasional splash of water. It was odd to think that such a serene place fueled the violence that came with the mob it harbored.

"They'll be here in about five minutes. Lucky for us, no one is late to this kind of meeting."

"You still haven't told me how you're going to get them relaxed enough to let their guards down for the Turks to jump in. What on gaia is going to distract them enough that they won't notice basically all of the cars the station has pull up, even if their lights are off?"

"Just stay here, near the edge of the pier, and follow my lead. I assume you'll catch on at some point. Oh, and take this just in case," he set a miniature breathing apparatus only about the size of Seifer's fist into his hand, gesturing for him to tuck it into one of the larger pockets inside his coat, "It's rated for about ten minutes underwater. To be safe, only stay under for five at most. I find that counting the seconds helps."

"Why would I need to be underwater for any period of time?"

"You're bright, you'll figure it out when the time comes."

A few beats passed before the sound of movement near the end of the pier could be heard, shadows moving towards them. The brown-eyed blond lit a cigarette, glancing at the detective before throwing his lighter into the water. After a few minutes there were a good two hundred people on the concrete extension into the ocean, dark eyes all on the smoking teen.

"This everyone?" He asked, a hard edge to his voice that drained all the personality from his words.

"Everyone in this goddamn town. Now what the fuck did you want, kid? You said you had information on the people who've been stealing all of our information and killing our men," the elder Corneo spat, stepping closer to his son.

"So I did a little looking into it, and I came to the realization that sometimes not everyone is who they say they are. Obvious, right? Turns out my partner in crime here is actually still playing for the good guys, and has been causing all of this," at this point, the bottom of Seifer's stomach dropped out and his heart jumped into his throat, because _oh fuck._

Hayner walked several yards away, towards the men he may or may not still be loyal to, and it took every ounce of discipline in the scarred man not to chase after him, instead staying the hell where he was like he was told because for once in his life it seemed like a good time to follow instructions, "And since everyone always bitches that I don't do anything fun, I decided to bring you all here to enjoy watching him find out what happens when you cross the goddamn mafia."

With that, he pulled out a gun and fired straight into his friend's chest, right at his heart. Losing his balance more from shock than any sort of momentum from the bullet, the blue-eyed man stumbled back and fell into the freezing water below.

* * *

><p>AN 2: And you may all begin writing your angry reviews threatening great bodily harm if I don't update quickly. The fic is NOT over, not by a longshot, despite the shortness of the chapter and the placement of the cut. This is supposed to be a crime-thriller genre story, I decided months ago to cut it there for the purposes of suspense, as any similar-genre serial release would. Anyway, I hope to update sometime soon, maybe in a week or so. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed the story thusfar, your comments have given me a great degree of happiness/peace in a somewhat difficult time in my life. See you soon~


	5. Shattered Glass and Darkness

There was a moment of silence immediately following the splash, where Hayner walked over to the edge and watched the water froth and sway. He tucked his gun back into his waistband and turned back to the crowd, brushing his left hand on his pants to clear some of the residue.

"How the fuck did he cause all that bullshit alone?" The Don asked, recovering from the rush of activity quickly. He moved to observe the settling water as well, pulling away from the rest of the crowd, who still remained speechless, perhaps a little surprised at the sudden brutality. The younger Corneo was certain news had spread of their fast and hard friendship.

"High-level magic-user. Plus, he had quite a lot of help."

At that moment, right on cue, the smoke bombs filled with knockout gas started landing in the crowd. The only ones outside of the radius of the cloud that came up were the Don and Hayner, one of whom was swearing and demanding to know what the fuck was going on, the other calming stamping out his cigarette butt. Hayner could just make out Elena's voice on the amplifier in her squad car telling everyone to hit the ground over the sound of their coughing and attempts to fight the effects of the potent mixture.

"To clarify on the help bit, I showed him where every single area was, and pulled in some reinforcements, and killed about half those guys myself. Did a fantastic job of raising me, didn't you, Don?" He added with a dark smirk, far too gone to feel fear anymore.

The enraged man didn't say anything, merely pulled out his gun and took aim at his progeny. The click of the safety coming off was drowned out by a loud splash from the end of the pier to the left of Hayner, conspicuously near the ladder up from the water. Don Corneo got off three shots before one of the Turks disabled him but the sandy-blond teen hardly noticed, caught between the searing pain of a bullet piercing his chest and a very heavy, very wet Seifer crashing into him and taking them both to the ground.

His vision swam and he was dimly aware of his heart stuttering as he failed to draw air into his left lung, instead coughing wetly until all he could taste was blood. He could feel the burning tingle of powerful healing magic knitting the single wound closed, but it wasn't doing very much for his collapsed lung. The soaking wet blond above him was swearing, it was obvious from how fast his lips were moving in angry cycles, but at this point Hayner didn't really hear very much beyond the roaring of blood in his ears.

"Th-that was not five minutes," he managed to get the words past his lips, and it wasn't exactly what he wanted to say, but it would have to do for now. At the moment he wasn't sure if he was disappointed that he would probably survive or happy about it, it pretty much all depended on what happened after this. He passed out hoping Seifer wouldn't be too mad about the whole thing.

* * *

><p>Right about the time his companion lost consciousness the scarred detective became aware he was bleeding rather profusely from where the other two bullets had penetrated his arm and shoulder, precisely where the smaller man's heart would have been if the projectiles hadn't been stopped by his knight. He then decided he didn't really care that his blood was making a pool on the ground and would worry about that later, when Hayner wasn't on the verge of dying. A glance revealed Raijin and Fuujin running over to him, Tseng talking briefly with the paramedics before they moved in on the two injured parties, quickly casting a few healing spells on Seifer to begin to knit the wounds together before he bled to death.<p>

"Seifer," Fuu greeted in her unique single-word fashion, wrapping her small arms around his neck for a second, before Rai jumped in and lifted the blond detective to his feet by his good arm. If he swayed slightly and leaned on his friends more than he should have, no one said anything. The paramedics were already setting the teen up for transport, Seifer finding himself irritated that he was probably going to pass out from blood loss long before learning that his friend was in stable condition. Being dumped into fifty degree water didn't really help the shock much either, he supposed.

"You okay, Seifer? You don't look so good, ya know?"

He sighed, too cold for his teeth to even chatter anymore, "I'm just not having the most fantastic night. I'm alive though, that's something?"

Rai began physically dragging him towards the ambulance, and as much as he wanted to he just felt too drained to really help him by attempting to walk. The paramedics wrapped a blanket around him as he sat next to Hayner, and he'd be hard pressed to say whether he legitimately passed out or just fell asleep on the ride there.

* * *

><p>Seifer woke up during the afternoon of the next day, startling all the doctors and nurses who assumed he'd be in and out for a least a few days, maybe a week. After a pair that was assigned to him listed off reasons why he couldn't leave yet, none of which he listened to, he asked after his wounded companion. They shifted awkwardly for a moment, as if determining whether his badge still accounted for something when he was in the hospital. A glare and the beginnings of a snarl managed to convince them.<p>

"He's stable, but it'll take him a while to recover. To say the least, he's lucky to be alive."

"So I assume I won't be able to see him any time soon?" He kept his voice neutral, already aware of the answer.

"You're supposed to stay in bed for a least a few days as we explained earlier, just because you're a Turk doesn't mean you're invincible, Mister Almasy. And we won't allow Hayner any visitors until he wakes up and rests."

Meaning he was stuck in a hospital unable to see Hayner for a week or more. Fantastic. They kept talking, but gave up once they realized he wasn't even pretending to pay attention, instead staring at the opposite wall and replaying the events of the night before. They filtered out of the room and shut the door behind them, leaving him with his thoughts. It was still strange, to think everything had really happened the way it had, how close he'd come to failing.

_Right after he'd fallen into the water he had quickly realized he wasn't dead, despite the pain right over his heart. Once he got the wind materia in the breathing apparatus working, it hit him that the brown-eyed man had fired the gun in his left hand. The one only he and Seifer knew had rubber bullets in it, meaning everyone above except Hayner thought the detective was dead right now. Seconds ticked by as he clung to the ladder up to avoid being pulled by the current in the dark. _

_What the hell was the younger man hoping to accomplish by blaming his guardian for the missing records and then pretending to kill him? Even if it made them relax for long enough for the Turks to move in, there was no one to protect Hayner in the event someone managed to put two and two together in time to get a shot off at him. _

_ It clicked into place like the last piece of a puzzle. That was exactly what the nineteen year-old was after, getting Seifer out of the line of fire and then most likely intentionally turning himself into a target. Fucking moron really had made getting killed part of his endgame. _

_ Dragging himself up the ladder and breaching the surface, he tossed the device he had been using to breathe onto the pier and ran towards his friend. A flick of his icy eyes noted the gun pointed at the blond, who wasn't even making a move to defend himself, proving his assumption right. He rammed into the smaller man full-force, taking them both to the ground as three successive gunshots split the air. The rest blurred with pain, everything except the faint glow from the amalgam on the sandy-blond boy's chest and the dazed expression in his eyes as he looked up at his knight. _

His words were only further evidence that keeping Seifer out of the way while he faced off with his father was a part of his plan all along. If the detective had figured it out even a few seconds later it would have all been for naught. He just hoped his companion would avoid trying to get himself killed in the future. The detective wasn't even ready to forgive him for the first time. Footsteps leading up to his door and a head of bright blond hair pulled him out of his thoughts; he regarded Roxas silently, waiting for the other to speak.

"Don't get any goddamn ideas that I actually think of you as anything more than an annoyance, but…I wanted to thank you. For believing in Hayner, even when he probably did a pretty good job of pretending like he'd betrayed you. You're maybe not as incompetent as I thought."

"Third time's the charm, I guess."

Cerulean eyes narrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"First time I protected Hayner from being shot, you punched me in the face. Second time, after I rescued him from his kidnappers, you bitched at me over the phone. Third time you actually thanked me. If you're trying to beat me out for biggest asshole, you're definitely pulling ahead. Oh, and thanks for making Hayner cry the other night when you were drunk, really appreciated that," he added with a glare, the memory stirring a burning anger that almost prompted him to jump out of bed and take a swing at the smaller man.

The other looked down, frowning, "I said something I never should have, something I didn't even mean. I guess I have a lot to apologize for."

"He'll forgive you."

"Of course he will, but that doesn't mean he'll forget what I said. He has this terrible habit of assuming people really mean anything bad about him they ever say, but don't mean any of the good things. He used to just say 'Fuck everyone else' when someone

would put him down or disapprove of what he was doing, but ever since…"

"His boyfriend was murdered, he's changed?" Seifer finished where he trailed off, watching the surprise and suspicion flit across the younger detective's face.

"He told you about that?"

"Sort of. I figured it out, he explained what happened. Do you have any idea how fucked up he is over it? Seriously, if you knew and left him alone anyways, I'm going to kill you," he snapped. It wasn't an idle threat, and he was pretty sure Roxas knew that.

"To be honest, I really didn't. I didn't think he'd try to get himself killed, never realized he was that severely depressed. I knew he wasn't doing well and felt like he didn't have much reason to live, but I never thought he'd do something so drastic. Tseng was the only one who wasn't surprised. I think he knew all along."

He couldn't even muster anger at the man from Wutai anymore, he was just fucking tired of all this secrecy bullshit, "I can't say I'm surprised. Speaking of, seen him around? Wanted to talk with him."

"Fell off the radar, as he normally does. I assume he'll be here once he knows you're awake. I only knew because one of the nurses told me. We've got a rota protecting both your room and Hayner's. Fuu and Rai are outside, but I guess they didn't want to bother you yet," he added, glancing towards the door.

"Make sure nothing happens to Hayner for me."

"What exactly are your designs on him?"

"I don't particularly have any, other than keeping him safe."

"I don't believe you."

"That's not my problem, is it?"

They settled on giving each other dirty looks, Roxas sighing and stalking out much the same way he came in. Fuujin peeked in, her single visible eye surveying him. She quirked a smile, then retreated back into the hallway. They both knew he was fine, he just wanted some time to think. For the moment though, he decided to take a nap. Whether he cared to admit it or not, he was exhausted, physically and mentally. He needed a break, and a fucking raise.

* * *

><p>He woke up with the sense that someone was nearby, a cursory sweep of the room revealing none other than his boss, looking convincingly like a statue. Seifer always wondered how someone who caused such immense change and movement could be so still himself.<p>

"You broke all three rules."

"Hello to you too. I'm doing fine, thanks for asking."

Tseng actually smiled slightly, which if that wasn't fucking scary enough, he continued, "You succeeded while breaking all the rules. It's what you do, Seifer, and it's what I was counting on. If you hadn't, Hayner would be dead. Although next time, do try to get shot a little less."

"I thought you paid me to get shot? And, why the hell would you even give me rules if you wanted me to ignore them?"

"You always seem to work better when you know what boundaries you have, so you can cross them most effectively," he said, shoulder moving in what could have been a shrug.

"So, what happens to Hayner now?"

"Hayner Smith, born March twenty-eighth, age twenty-one, completed a pilot-project online and in-person training program under the Chief of Police of the City of Twilight Town, passed with very high marks. Speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently. All family deceased, suspected mafia involvement. Currently under consideration to become a Turk, possibly partnered to one Detective Almasy."

"Changed his age too? I guess that makes sense, considering how ridiculous it would be to be a full-fledged detective so young. You really trained him to be a detective while he was still in the mob?"

"I did, yes. We've been planning this for a while, and it was only natural that I allow him to achieve at least one of his childhood dreams considering all he's done for us. Would you be willing to work with him?"

"Are you really even asking me that? _Of course _I'd be willing to take him on as a partner. We're going to need a bit of time to reconcile though."

"You have two weeks of paid vacation set up to begin when you two are discharged from the hospital. You may take more if you wish, but knowing you I went with the shorter amount to start out."

"It'll be up to Hayner when he wants to go on the job, but I'm fine with that."

"Cloud and Zack have been asking after you two. I'd lecture you on the risks of involving civilians in operations, but we both know neither of them is anything close to a helpless bystander."

"Speaking of helpless bystanders, you knew Hayner was going to pull that stunt at the end, and decided not to warn me because…?"

"I trusted that you'd manage to put it all together if indeed he did decide to go that route. I was hoping he would choose differently, but I suppose not."

Tugging the IV out of his hand with only a slight hiss of pain, he got out of bed and crossed the distance between them, "Permission to do something that will likely get me fired, sir."

"Permission granted, Detective."

His fist connected soundly with the Chief's jaw, his head tilting before returning resolutely back into place. It wasn't the hardest punch he'd ever thrown by far, he wasn't looking to shatter his boss's bones, just wanted to get his point across. Dark eyes watched him, "Better?"

"Much. While on the subject of fired, did you get rid of that guy I talked with you about? Because if I see him again I won't be responsible for what happens."

"He's been put on a two month probation for endangering a fellow officer and misuse of issued firearms. If we experience further problems with him he'll be transferred to another station."

"He's lucky I didn't kill him."

"I don't doubt that you could have. It's good that you didn't, because I'd really hate to deal with the paperwork involved. I have enough as it is. You'd be surprised just how much is involved with arresting two hundred and four people all at once."

"Good luck with that," he answered as the older man moved towards the door, "Oh, and Tseng? Thanks for assigning me to this operation."

His lips quirked up in an almost-smile again then he continued on out the door. A few minutes later a nurse walked in to check on him, dropping her pen when she found him standing by the single window. Ignoring her in favor of looking out at the woods lining this side of the hospital, he remained lost in thought until she raised her voice enough that he couldn't tune her out anymore.

"Look, Miss-" he glanced at her badge, "Sarah, I really appreciate that you're worried about me, but just a few days ago I was shot four times, nearly bled to death, and was up and moving the next day. I'm only still here because my friend is here, and I want to be close by when he finally wakes up. His name is Hayner, have you heard anything?"

"He came in last night about the same time as…Oh! You must be the one who came in the same ambulance!" She smacked her forehead with her palm at how obvious it was, she must have known both patients were admitted at the same time, but not put it together beyond that, "He's doing much better, but he arrived in a rough condition, though I suppose you know that. I'm really not supposed to say much…"

"He has no surviving family ma'am, his friends and I are all he's got. He's my partner on the force, Sarah, if you can tell me anything I would really appreciate it. I very nearly watched him die, I'd like to know when I'll be allowed to see him again."

She paused, uncertainty in her green eyes. He knew she'd cave just by her expression, she was less worried about whether he was trustworthy and more about whether she'd lose her job or not. People in this profession tended to be compassionate, so as soon as he claimed emotional attachment to Hayner, she'd feel obligated to assuage his worries. He was kind of a manipulative bastard, but if it got him information he was more than okay with that.

"His lung collapsed pretty severely, the damage was repaired on scene with magic- I guess that was you too? But it took them a while to draw his lung back to its original size. The bullet nicked an artery, he would have bled to death within minutes had you not healed him, but as it was he lost a lot of blood. The trauma and shock basically caused him to shut down. He's in a light coma, he should come out of it naturally in a few days to two weeks. I think once he wakes up, if he either asks after you or allows you to come visit you can see him. The doctors here understand how important Turks are to one another."

"Thank you, Sarah. Think you could let me know if his condition changes?"

"Of course, Mister Almasy."

"Seifer, please. Even my boss hardly calls me by my last name," he replied with a smile.

She smiled in return, making a few marks on the papers on her clipboard before walking back out cheerfully. He supposed she enjoyed dealing with patients that were neither terribly demanding nor combative. Closing his eyes, he mentally clawed after the link Ultima had made with Hayner, the half-formed junction bridge that could allow him to pull his partner out of his coma a little ahead of schedule if she would just give him access. The minor shock through his head was his answer, the High Seraph's way of batting him away. It wasn't a no, exactly, more of a 'not now'.

Ifrit surprised him by shifting into his consciousness, the fiery summon spirit tending towards silence more often than not. Apparently Axel was wondering why the nurse had referred to the brown-eyed man as Seifer's partner. He briefly relayed what Tseng had told him to the redhead, who seemed to find it rather funny; Roxas was less than amused with the idea. The man with ice-blue eyes just smirked and continued to watch the world go by, lacking much else to do at the moment. He really hated hospitals.

* * *

><p>Two nights later Hayner still hadn't shown signs of regaining consciousness, and to say that his knight was restless was an understatement. Finally Ultima relented under his incessant threats to smash her if she wouldn't let him try to drag the teen's consciousness out of wherever the fuck it was trapped. In her typical fashion, she chose to pull him into the dream share while he was still up and walking around; he was sure he passed out rather spectacularly out in the real world.<p>

Pushing aside thoughts of what was happening outside of his head, he looked around him. He had a moment of vertigo when he realized he wasn't even on the ground, instead floating in a dark, endless space of blue smoke and sharp shards of glass suspended in nothing. If this was the deepest part of Hayner's subconscious…

It took a good few moments to get down how exactly he was supposed to avoid the massive chunks of glass, they were too close together to really get around. But as he moved towards them they shifted out of the way on their own accord, until he reached a few that wouldn't. The ones to his right did, however, and he understood now that there was a specific path he needed to follow. He'd flown and floated in several of his own dreams, but the setting was so unusual he would have gotten disoriented if not for focusing on finding the person he'd come in here for. There was hardly anything to gauge his position by and the cloying smoke made it hard to see.

"Hayner, goddamn it, where the hell are you?" He shouted, his voice momentarily filling the space before fading off into nothing.

"Get out of my head, Seifer. I'm not in the mood," the younger man replied from somewhere far above, except it sounded like more than one voice. Eyes narrowed, he shot towards the source of the sound, as the smoke thickened he felt he was getting closer. Finally he emerged in the center of the cloud, immediately noticing a large glass platform and three figures sitting on it. Hayner in one of his suits and fedora, smoking and giving the detective a dark look; Hayner in his boyfriend's hoodie, jeans and shoes with bright rainbow shoelaces regarding him tiredly; a younger-looking Hayner, probably fourteen, his lips quirked into a mix between a real smile and a smirk.

"You never fucking listen, do you?" The one in a suit snarled around his cigarette.

"If you can't tell, I'm a little busy at the moment. I know you probably have a lot of bitching to do, but it's going to have to wait," the second Hayner added with a sigh.

"On a scale of one to ten, how pissed off are you right now?" The youngest version asked, not on quite the same wavelength as the other two.

It struck him that these were the personas that the Hayner on the outside seemed to juggle between, his street personality and the person he became in a mob setting, then the young man he left behind when he needed to grow up to deal with the world. His subconscious was trying and failing to reconcile them now that he didn't need to switch between them.

"Not that much. I'm more interested in getting you put back together so I can bitch you out properly. Outside."

"You try really hard to act like you don't care," the fourteen year-old quipped, seeming much more entertained by the detective than the other two.

"Look, Hayner, you can be whoever you want to be outside. You can even continue as you were if you really need to. Just come back. You can't stay in here surrounded by smoke and shattered memories. All you're doing is giving up."

"Why are you so damn persistent? A normal person would have just waited for me to wake up, or given up when they saw what this place looks like. What the hell makes you so determined to fix me? I'm no longer useful to you, and you don't owe me anything," the street persona spoke, resigned.

"You're my friend, you're my partner. I won't leave you behind, as much as you want me to."

"I shot you in the chest and you still want to be friends?"

"It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to get me to stop."

"Why? Why are you my friend, why do you still trust me…"

"After you did all you could to make me think you betrayed me? Tried to convince me you don't care that I wanted you to live and instead decided to let yourself die? Because if you had really wanted to die, you wouldn't have dropped so many clues that brought me to the realization of what you were going to do. You would have left me completely in the dark so if I did figure it out it would be too late. I think you were counting on me to save you, even if you wouldn't have done anything had I not. You put your life in my hands, because you trust me. And I saved you because I trusted that it wasn't all a lie. And that's what a Turk needs to have with his partner, trust."

"You really want me to be your partner?"

"You're trained, we get along, I trust you. At the moment I can only say that about maybe four people. Fuu, Rai, Tseng, and you. So yeah, I want you to be my partner, if you'll have me."

"If I'll…" The one in the suit trailed off into a laugh, Seifer didn't detect derision in it, just mirth.

"So I guess I have to choose who I want to be now. Since I can't very well keep up three personalities forever," the youngest one said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"You are all three people, you don't need to separate them anymore. Be the self you want to be, not the one other people want you to be or the one that you needed to hide behind. No matter what, you'll still be Hayner."

The world around him wavered, the glass shivering and the smoke ceasing to move. All three of the blonds in front of him smiled and stood one by one, just beginning to merge together as the world shattered like a mirror, the darkness splintering to reveal white cracks. He fell from where he'd been floating as the rest of the pieces of the artificial world crumbled. As soon as Hayner solidified into a single figure, the blue-eyed man had the sensation of hitting the ground and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Hayner woke up with a gasp, regretting it as the scar on his chest tugged sharply from the sudden tension. His eyes focused and he took in a woman with bright green eyes and reddish hair watching him. Blinking, he smiled automatically and she immediately brightened.<p>

"Um, hi," he began awkwardly after clearing his throat.

"Good morning Hayner, it's nice to have you back. Your friends have been very worried, especially your partner."

Partner? Had Seifer already been calling him that?

"Is he still here, is he okay? Are any of my other friends here?"

"Two of the Turks are guarding your door, and Seifer is still here. He's fine, but he decided to stay here instead of ignoring doctor's orders. So he could be nearby when you woke up. Roxas and Axel went home to sleep, right now Pence and Olette are outside. The doctor's going to want to talk to you for a while, but I'm sure she'll let them visit you briefly afterward. And if not, I'm pretty sure your partner will sneak in anyways."

Hayner smiled fondly, clearly his friends had made an impression on the woman, "I don't doubt that he would. He's incredibly stubborn. But, how long have I been out for?"

"Three days. Not as long as we expected, actually, but much too long for Seifer. How much do you remember?"

"Everything up to the point where I passed out after being shot," he replied just before the doctor entered, her blond hair tied in a tight bun.

"Mister Smith, it's good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?"

The name the woman used confused him, but then he understood that Tseng had probably made an alias for him, "Disoriented, but I'm not in pain."

"Disoriented how?"

"The kind where you wake up in a hospital finding three days of your life missing and the last thing you remember is not being sure whether you were going to live."

"I'd be worried if you weren't that kind of disoriented. So how much do you remember? At least part of it, from the sounds of things."

"All of it, except the days I wasn't conscious. Has Seifer recovered fully from his injuries? I know he was shot at least once in the arm."

"His own mana repaired what we couldn't, he's fine. Full mobility. Rather restless for someone who really should have been weakened by the trauma and healing process. Back on topic, any shortness of breath, pain or pulling when you breathe?"

"Not really," he replied, already aware of the questions before they came. The rest of the procedure went much the same, the woman checking his vitals and giving him a look when he asked to see his friends. For a moment he expected her to refuse, but she cracked a small smile and allowed it, much to the nurse's relief. He idly noticed that her name was Sarah, storing the information away for future use. She smiled warmly at him before leaving to fetch Seifer, Olette and Pence already walking into the room.

"Hey guys. Pence, it's been a while. You two been okay?" He started, a little wary of how they'd react to everything he'd done up to now. He'd seen the green-eyed girl earlier, but they didn't have a chance to really sit down and talk. The first thing she did was walk over to his bedside and slap him hard across the cheek, on the verge of tears.

"You _idiot!_" She shouted, "What the hell were you thinking? You almost died, you intentionally put yourself in harm's way and pushed Seifer away so he couldn't protect you. Did you think we wouldn't miss you? That we were better off without you? _We love you_, you fucking moron. I know you've changed and you don't think we'll like you how you are, but you're still our Hayner, no matter what. So don't…don't do that to us again."

She sniffed and wiped the moisture at the corner of her eyes, then glanced at the door and her thin brows furrowed dangerously. Pence gave his friend a sympathetic look before watching what his partner was doing, somewhere between mortified and amused.

"And you! Get your goddamn ass in here before I hit you, this conversation involves you too, whether you fucking like it or not," she barked before reaching outside and yanking Seifer into the room by his shirt, dragging him to the center of the room. Hayner had never heard her swear so much before, though he supposed it had been a long time since he'd really seen her at all, much less seen her angry. The scarred man looked more than a little frightened of the brunette who was a good six inches shorter than him and about a hundred pounds lighter.

"Now Hayner, we may be your friends, but Seifer is your partner, and it's clear from your actions you don't have a bloody clue what that means. You don't lie to him, you don't hold anything back, you don't leave his side while on the job and considering the amount of people that want nothing more than to bleed you dry right now, you shouldn't while off the job either. You tell him everything; if he goes in without knowing how you're feeling or what's really going on you could get him or both of you killed. You _should_ tell your friends everything, but you _have_ to tell him. Do you understand?"

Pale eyes slid over to regard him silently, and an almost imperceptible nod was Seifer's way of saying 'angry girls are terrifying, give her whatever she wants'.

"Yeah, I get it. No more lies, scout's honor."

Seifer smiled, "To quote you, 'no way in hell were you ever a boy scout'."

"Hey, 'Lette?" Pence queried gently, approaching her. She replied and looked at him, wondering what he wanted to interrupt for.

"Maybe we should leave Hayner and Seifer alone for a bit? We can always speak with him later, right? I think right now they need to speak with one another a little more than we need to talk to Hayner."

She let go of the front of the blue-eyed man's shirt and nodded, following her boyfriend out the door and shutting it behind them. They both watched it for a few beats before finally making eye contact again. The younger man honestly had no fucking clue what to say.

"How are you feeling? Your chest hurt?" The scarred blond asked, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Not much. Thanks for saving my life again, by the way. Gods, I feel like an asshole and you haven't even yelled at me yet. How are you? They said you were fine, but…"

"I am. Two new scars, but I hardly notice them anymore," he shrugged easily.

"So, where do we stand right now?"

"I'm pissed at you. You withheld information and almost got yourself killed, even after I repeatedly told you not to. But," he paused and ran a hand through his hair, "I'm willing to forgive you if you never do it again. That includes going out alone at any point in the near future, Olette's right, at the moment a good quarter of the city is actively looking to kill you."

"I'll consider that an improvement, before it was almost everyone. Moving up in the world already," he muttered bitterly, quietly relieved that his friend was willing to put everything behind them.

"If we're going to stay friends, you're going to have to cut that shit out. Stop being so goddamn down on yourself."

"Sure, whatever. I'll do my best," he agreed flippantly, moving onto the next topic, "So, how soon can you get me out of this goddamn hospital? I hate hospitals."

"I feel you on that, but you really should stay until the doctors say you can leave."

"You don't, why should I have to? Besides, you've done a pretty good job of keeping me alive up till now."

The older man seemed to consider this, cocking his head to the side thoughtfully, "You do have a point. I dislike having to stay here all day just so I can keep an eye on you, especially when I could do the same at home. I guess I'll see what I can do, if it gets me out of here. Before someone decides to test my blood for mana content and realizes I've moved up a rank. Seriously, the people here are so needle-happy. Seem to think I'm irritable because I'm in pain or something."

"Instead of just because you're pissed off all the time?"

"Only half of the time. Or so."

"I'm thinking four fifths. Or at the very least you look pissed off that much, I guess that could just be your normal facial expression."

"It's the scar. People see it and assume I must be angry and bitter."

"No, pretty sure they see it and think it's hot," he mentally kicked himself when he realized he said that out loud.

"Why, do you think it is?" The elder returned, one blond eyebrow arched in question, his gaze assessing.

Well there was hardly a way out of this now, it was a pointless thing to lie about anyways, "I guess that's sort of weird and offensive, isn't it? Sorry. It just…fits you."

"It's a part of me now, it's defined me for most of my life. It scares most people, like it's a reminder of the brutality of the world they live in, but…If you like it, I'll take that as a compliment, since in a lot of ways, it is me."

Hayner blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, because really? He was hitting on the man who was going to be his roommate for the foreseeable future. Who was essentially in charge of keeping him fed, clothed and alive. Not the best time to imply he was attracted.

"So, any idea how things are going regarding the case?" He really didn't want to know, but he felt obligated to ask.

"As far as I know they're all still stuck in jail, judge has denied all of them bail. Best lawyer within a three hundred mile radius is building a team to take care of the cases, planning to take on Corneo's case himself. Apparently we're the first police station in the world to arrest two hundred people all at once without the use of military force or a loss of life. News reports are already citing you as an undercover agent. Your name is Hayner Smith now, by the way, and you're twenty one. So now I won't feel as bad taking you out for drinks after work, right?" He joked, the humor never really making it into his voice. He was just as thrown off by everything as the brown-eyed man was.

"Goddamn it, I can't smoke now, can I? Fuck, should have never agreed to that."

"You didn't think you'd need to worry about that, right? Because if you didn't survive you wouldn't have to quit," Seifer was looking down at the floor, somber.

"I didn't plan for anything afterward, I didn't really think there would be one. If it wasn't for Tseng I wouldn't have any way to make a living right now, he forced me to train to be a detective. He probably put you on the case because he knew you'd feel bad for me and take me in."

"I'm not offering you a place to live because I pity you, Hayner. I'm doing it because we're friends, and that's what friends do, they're there for each other. There are also selfish reasons. It'll be easier to protect you if you're near me at all times, and now that you're my partner, you may notice that I am not good at sharing. At all."

"You do strike me as the possessive type. I'm sure Roxas is thrilled about the whole partner thing."

"I don't give a shit what he thinks. He's an insensitive ass who says the worst things when he's drunk."

"I am not going to hold that against him and you are not allowed to either. He'll make it up to me."

"How exactly is he going to do that?"

"By agreeing to cease all assholish behaviors towards you and at least attempt to be friendly. You're both my friends, I'm not going to choose between you, and I shouldn't fucking have to."

"I'm not sure I could handle a Roxas that wasn't an utter douche all of the time."

"You'll learn to get along, I hope," he trailed off, then remembered something, "Has Tseng been able to take care of the underground fighting arena? Freeing the fighters and giving them their lives back?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. He's been so busy I haven't had a chance to ask him yet. I'll look into it. I assume you want that taken care of as soon as possible."

"And to burn down the whole place when we're done. No amount of scrubbing can make that place clean, best to just raze it."

"I haven't brought out Ifrit in a long time, I'm sure he'd be willing to lend a hand," the blue-eyed man said, nodding thoughtfully as if considering what to eat for dinner rather than how to go about burning a building to the ground.

"Man, when can we fucking go home? I don't like being so separated from everything in the real world, being here is like being in stasis."

Seifer was looking at him oddly, and after a moment he decided to ask why the scarred man was staring at him.

"You called something home for the first time since I've met you. You think my place is home?"

"Oh for the love of- Can I just blame all of this conversation on drugs and we pretend none of it ever happened?"

The other smirked characteristically and shook his head, "I know for a fact they don't have you on anything, so no. What are you so embarrassed about anyways? Do I really seem like the kind of guy to hold your emotions against you?"

"No, and I'm still getting used to that."

The ice blue-eyed man quirked a small smile and stood to ruffle his hair affectionately. He understood, of course he did, after that rather odd dream-sharing episode they had just before this. Hayner was avoiding bringing that up, hoped he could avoid it indefinitely.

"Don't worry. I'll get you home as soon as I can. Tseng's set up a vacation for me, we'll get you used to it whether you like it or not. I've got a few things to take care of, try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone," he added before turning and heading out the door.

Pence came back in shortly after, Olette nowhere to be seen. He pulled up a chair to the bed and sat down, explaining that his partner was off bitching Roxas out because Seifer had mentioned to her what the spiky-haired man had said to his best friend over the phone. They laughed and couldn't help but feel just a little bad for their other friend, he was probably regretting the day he was born right about now.

The other man caught him up on what he'd missed during the time they were apart, including hilarious stories about Axel and Roxas getting caught performing sexual acts in the closet nearest their offices. He'd never heard about that from the blond man himself, but he couldn't really say he was surprised Rox had left those stories out. It was easy to settle back into rhythm with his old friend; of all of his friends, Pence had always been the most easy-going and understanding. He probably felt like he didn't know Hayner very well anymore, but he kept it to himself and did his best to learn about the current one instead of dwelling on the old. It was nice, he didn't feel like he had to act a certain way.

"So, you seem to get along very well with Seifer. I can't say I'm surprised, you two are alike in many ways, but I kind of assumed you'd be at each other's throats rather than good friends."

"We're only alike enough to understand each other. I'm sure if we were a little younger and our lives a little less threatened we'd be kicking the crap out of each other on a regular basis, but as it is we're doing our best to cover each other's backs. As you can see, he is doing an astronomically better job than I have been."

"I'm sure you'll make it up to him. Seifer's pretty famous at the station for nearly getting himself killed every time he goes on a mission alone. It's not his fault really, he seems to have shit luck and instead of 'nines and a few magnums the opponents end up having machine guns or something equally ridiculous. Naturally, being himself, he never calls for backup. Which is why we've been trying so hard to get him to accept a partner, but I'm sure you've noticed how stubborn he is."

"I'm pretty lucky he'll still have me, I kind of assumed he'd be too pissed off to deal with me after that debacle. In fact, that's what I was counting on."

"For him to be angry at you for betraying him so he wouldn't be as sad about you dying? He'd never believe you'd really turned on him. You have the worst plans ever, hope you know that. Always have. Remember that time you planned to get to the top of the Clock Tower on a hot day before your ice cream melted?"

"Gods, don't remind me. That happened like six years ago. I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Definitely not. It was pretty funny though. Listen, Hayner…Are you going to be okay? I mean, after what you've gone through, I don't really think a shoulder to cry on is going to cut it anymore. There's absolutely nothing wrong with seeking help when you're hurting like this."

"I know I'll have to at some point, but right now I'm just not ready. I can't…I'm not trying to make excuses, but I just can't right now. Nobody can help if I'm not ready to be helped. I will when the time's right."

"Just hang in there until then, alright? Seifer may not be a lot of things, but he is loyal, and he'll be there for you no matter what, so if you don't feel comfortable going to us about something, please ask him. Or at least tell him when you're not okay. And Hayner?"

"Yeah Pence?" He prompted, wondering at the sudden pause in conversation.

"Stop feeling so guilty about everything. You feel guilty about Jack's death, and I understand that, but never feel like you're hurting us by being around, or like you're a burden to everyone. You're one of the best friends anyone could ask for, and you're the strongest person I'll ever know. Even you can't take all of this on by yourself, so don't try to, okay?"

"I understand. Thanks Pence. I have a feeling if I didn't have you and the others with me for so long when we were kids I wouldn't have made it this far."

"Well then it's a good thing we made friends all those years ago, isn't it? We're glad to have you around Hayner, we always will be."

"Means a lot to me for you guys to stick by me after this long. After…everything."

The brunet smiled widely, "You mean a lot to us, Hayner, I can't stress that enough. We're not friends with you out of pity or obligation, but because we genuinely love you."

"Love you too Pence, and everyone else too."

"Do you love Seifer?" The other man asked suddenly, voice not giving any hints as to his meaning or the motivation behind saying it.

Hayner stared at him wide-eyed, unable to process exactly why his friend would ask, and why he wasn't able to come up with an answer to a simple yes or no question. On one hand, he thought of Seifer as a friend, and loved all his friends dearly, but he couldn't say he'd known the other long enough to build up that strong of a connection. Friendly or romantic, love took time.

"I'm just kidding, don't worry about it," the smile was back on the older man's face as he brushed it off like nothing had happened.

"Hey Pence," Hayner started.

"What is it, Hayner?" He asked, turning back around to regard the other.

"I trust him."

"For you, I'd say that's pretty close then. I'll talk to you later," he nodded as he exited the room.

After a while of staring at the TV in his room without actually seeing anything on his screen, there was a light knock on his door. Assuming it was a nurse, he told them to come in, surprised to see Roxas enter instead. He didn't make eye contact as he approached the bed, opting to sit down in the chair and immediately tip forward to hide his face in the bed. It was hard to tell if he was really trying to smother himself or not. The brown-eyed man ruffled his blond spikes affectionately, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Come on Roxas, don't be like this. I've already forgiven you, it's-"

"Stop. Don't say it's okay. It'll never be okay, Hayner. I had no right to say something so hurtful and untrue to you," the other said after turning his head to the side to speak, eyes narrowed.

"Untrue?"

"You really still think what happened was your fault? Look, if Axel died tomorrow because he got shot to death while infiltrating a building with me, would his death be my fault?"

"Of course not."

"By your logic, it would be. Please stop blaming yourself, Hayner. I shouldn't have said what I did, but you also shouldn't have accepted it. You're not going to get Seifer killed because you've never gotten anyone killed."

"I'll try. I know it's not much, but I can't promise you anything."

"That's good enough for now. I'm sorry for what I said the other night. Really, really sorry. I am a terrible person and I'll understand if you hate me."

"I could never hate you, Roxas. You're my best friend, I'll always love you. But, you will have to do something to make it up to me."

"I'll do anything."

"I know you will," a pause, "Be friends with Seifer. At least pretend. Stop giving him shit, please? He's my friend and my partner, I won't put up with you treating him like crap any longer."

"I understand. I guess he's not that bad if you like him, and trust him enough to let him in. You don't trust…well anyone, really."

"There's a good reason for that."

"I know, Hayner. So how long do you have to stay here?"

"Don't know. Told Seifer to get me out as soon as he can, if it's not within the next few days I will seriously make a run for it."

"I'm sure you will, so hopefully if we all work together we can get you out of here without making several doctors and nurses chase after you with sedative."

"I think Sarah will help us, the redhead nurse? She seems pretty understanding."

"Seifer's been charming her ever since he woke up, in order to get more information on you. I don't trust him very much, but he honestly seems to care a whole hell of a lot for you. Other than Fuu and Rai, I've never seen him let anyone get so close as you have. Any idea why?"

"He feels like he has an obligation to rescue me from the underground life, since he feels it's not fair that he chose to enter, got rich, and escaped before it destroyed him, and I neither chose nor escaped. He's also very possessive, which I don't mind as much as I should."

"The first thing you texted me after you met him was 'you didn't tell me he was smoking hot'; tell me, Hayner, do you have a crush on him? Because if so, Gods help me I am going to smack him."

"Why would you hit him for me having a crush?"

"Stop avoiding the question, I've learned all your rerouting tactics already. And because he's an idiot and won't notice unless someone says something."

"I don't feel like answering that, if you had half a brain you'd know the answer. Also please never interfere with my love life because you will inevitably fuck everything up for me. By making me have a love life in the first place."

Roxas sighed, "You are the most bull-headed person I know…next to Seifer. Maybe that's why you get along so well. Both of you like to pretend you're fine when you're bleeding to death."

"He flips his shit when I get hurt and hide it though, which is pretty hypocritical, but I get the feeling that's just how he is about protecting people. Tends to use himself as a human shield."

"He leveled buildings when you were kidnapped. I don't know if you were awake when that happened or not, but…he could have gone to prison for that, what with how many gang members he killed. Cloud claimed responsibility, and since he's been granted selective amnesty by the government regarding his job, he got away with it this time. Seifer's normally a little better controlled than that, the last time he used his summons it was because we were pretty much toast otherwise."

"So he saves both yours and Axel's life and you still treat him the way you have been?"

"He put me through a lot of shit in high school, I hold grudges."

"High school," Hayner deadpanned, staring at him, "Seriously. High school is the reason you've been a dick to him this whole time? What are you, fourteen?"

"I'm just returning the favor! Do you have any idea how many times we got into fights? He made my life hell more often than not."

"You were in _high school_ Roxas, everyone are assholes to each other and beat the crap out of each other. You're an adult, you can put that bullshit behind you to foster a safe work environment for your fellow cop. Did he apologize to you?"

"Well, yeah…Our first day together on the force he said he was sorry for all of it, but he was lying."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's _Seifer._ Seifer doesn't feel remorse. Once a dick, always a dick."

"By all the Gods, I take it back, you're not fourteen, you're five years old. Seriously, what did he do that was so bad that you hold a grudge for years? You got into fights a lot yourself at the academy, so don't try to claim he started all of them in high school."

"Well, I might have thrown the first punch a lot, but he wouldn't leave me or Axel alone. It's his fault."

"Roxas. You're a moron. Put it behind you like everyone else does with anything that happens in high school. That's not a suggestion."

"I get it, whatever you want Hayner. I still say he's a terrible person, but if he really cares for you, then I guess I'll put up with him. He's in a better position to take care of you than the rest of us are."

"I've seen no indication that he's as bad as you claim he is. In fact, he's been a lot nicer to me than you have been," he snapped, and yeah, that was a pretty low blow, but he had a right to be angry even if he had forgiven his friend.

"I still think he has some sort of ulterior motive for being so gentle and protective with you. He's only that way with Fuu and Rai, and he's been attached to them for years. For him to treat you like that…There's got to be a reason."

"If you uncover some grand plot to use me, let me know. Until then, I'm just going to trust him."

"I don't get the blind faith you have in him. You of all people-"

"Rox, shut the fuck up."

The other apologized and let the topic drop completely, instead segueing into idle chatter about life at the station and what Hayner could expect. They talked for a while before the doctor came in and kicked Roxas out, saying that the brown-eyed man needed more rest if he was going to recover quickly. She winked at him after the other was gone and said that Seifer had been heckling her for a while, so if he was showing signs of good recovery she'd let him go the day after tomorrow. He replied that time couldn't possibly go fast enough.

* * *

><p>He awoke abruptly from a nightmare to find Seifer hovering over him, clearly having just shaken him awake. The straight line of his scar was marred by the worried furrow of his eyebrows and he looked tired. Hayner sighed and wished he didn't have to have someone fend off his nightmares like he was six years old again.<p>

"Sorry I woke you again. You must be pretty tired of it by now."

The other quirked a lopsided smile, "Not yet. Ask me again in a month. You were having a nightmare about your mom this time. How many recurring nightmares do you have?"

"About six or so. They sort of cycle depending on what's been going on in the week. Some worse than others."

"How much do you want to bet that Sarah wouldn't tell anyone if she found me here in the morning?"

"I'd put good money on that, she seems to like you. Why, you planning on staying? You don't have to, I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, I just don't feel like you should have to. 'Sides, it ticks me off to have you just down the hall and not be allowed to make sure you're alright."

Hayner rolled his eyes but moved over to let the other man lay down with him, curling into a protective embrace. It was still odd how natural this felt, especially since Seifer didn't seem the type to cuddle.

"Do you always latch onto things in your sleep? I wouldn't have pegged you for it."

"Yeah, have since I was a kid. Usually Greiver ends up being the recipient, since he sleeps in my bed, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's pretty laid back, unless someone tries to break into the house and kill me in my sleep."

"Is he going to freak out on me because he's never seen me before?"

"No, since I'll be there, and we've been hanging around so much he'll probably be able to pick up my scent on you. He's not that friendly to new people usually, but he'll warm up to you once he realizes you're not going to be leaving any time soon."

"Now it sounds like you're going to be holding me hostage at your house," Hayner commented, laughing a little at the idea, because he wouldn't really put it past the other man to do just that to keep him out of harm's way.

"That is actually a great idea. Then maybe you won't keep getting yourself shot."

"If you haven't noticed, you end up getting hurt twice as much as I do."

"Yes, but I can heal myself, you can't. I can also use magic to get myself out of bad situations, you don't have that going for you. I want us to work as equals, but understand that if I tell you to stay back or let me protect you I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself, it's just that my abilities are better suited to the situation. You're better at getting information and sneaking around, I'm better at breaking shit and taking hits."

"I get it, I do. It just bothers me that you don't seem to care how hurt you get. It's like you think as long as everyone else is safe, it's okay if you get killed. You wouldn't put up with that from me, why should I take that from you? Please be more careful, you're not a one man army anymore. There are people depending on you staying alive."

"I'll do my best to stay alive for you then, if it's that important to you."

"I told Roxas he had to be friends with you now, he was less than happy about it. Try not to hold his previous behavior against him, even if he has been acting like a child."

"I was a pretty big dick to him when we were younger. Vaguely feel bad about it now, I apologized to him once, but I don't think he listens to a word I say."

"Well he has to now, but you can't use his forced friendliness against him either. Just play nice for me, will you? I don't feel like babysitting two people older than me."

"You're the same age as him now, remember?"

"I'm never going to get used to that, it's just weird to think that I'm now legally two years older than I actually am."

"That you have a different name, background, life. And so few people will ever know the real story."

"I like it better that way. I never liked that name or the life that came with it. I'm good at lying, shouldn't be hard to keep up the act."

"Let me know if anyone at the station tries to start shit with you. You don't have to go it alone, all the Turks are going to back you up. If you encounter a serious problem with another member of the force, bring it to Elena or Tseng. We're all in agreement that anyone who causes problems for you is going to be given the ultimatum of shutting the fuck up and minding their own business or getting transferred out of the district."

"That seems a little extreme."

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure no one threatens your safety, and the others are of the same opinion. The Turks are loyal to their own far more than they are to other members of the force. Don't get me wrong, we all feel a kinship with other shields, but the Turks are a very close-knit and exclusive family. I'd take a bullet for another cop, but I'd die for a fellow Turk."

"Even Roxas?"

"Even Roxas. He may not like me very much and annoy the hell out of me, but we're still family. Like a really obnoxious shithead of a little brother."

"That is adorable, I am so going to tell him you said that."

Seifer groaned, "I will kill you if you do."

"While I'm entirely certain you're going to be the death of me, I really doubt you'd actually kill me."

"I dunno, technically you're no longer useful to me. I could just get rid of you, one less mouth to feed," the older man replied, his tone clearly joking.

"I suppose you could, definitely. If you really had a death wish, because the others would end you."

"I guess I'll have to keep you around then, as a matter of self-preservation."

"Probably in your best interests. Besides, it could be worse. You could have to live with Roxas."

"We would kill each other within a week, guaranteed. To be serious for a moment though, I really don't have a problem with you living with me."

"You'll let me know if it's too difficult, won't you? Don't feel obligated to take care of me just because we're partners."

"It's what friends do, Hayner, help each other get back on their feet. It's no great strain on me, I can support both of us just on what I make working on the force. We can continue talking about this tomorrow if you want, but for now I think you need to get some decent sleep."

"You do too. Don't stay up all night trying to dodge the nurses, okay?"

"I don't plan on it. 'Night Hayner," he said before muttering the words to the spell he continually needed to use on the younger blond.

"Goodnight Seif," the younger man mumbled before he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Seifer woke up to find his friend still flush with him, though their limbs were a little more tangled than he remembered when they fell asleep. It was calming, waking up with the younger man next to him, knowing he was safe, both from the outside world and his own nightmares. He wondered how his possessiveness progressed this far, to the point where he was comfortable waking up with a person he didn't know very well sleeping in his arms. He knew he was protective of the younger man because he was so emotionally vulnerable, that he admired him for how he managed to survive in the underground his whole life and make a good man out of himself, and that he genuinely understood and got along with him, but he shouldn't be this attached.<p>

Oh well.

"Do you two live together? You seem very comfortable sleeping alongside him," Sarah asked quietly from where she was standing by the door.

"We sort of do now. He's been undercover for a long time, but he'll be coming home once he gets out of the hospital. I worked with him for the last few weeks of the investigation, we just sort of fell into this pattern of sleeping next to each other."

"It's cute, you seem very protective of him. He must mean a lot to you."

"Yeah, he does. How are you doing this morning, Sarah? Doesn't seem like they give you a break, you've been working straight through since I woke up."

"I'm doing just fine, I'm on a ten day stretch, mostly by choice. I switched some shifts with one of the other nurses because they had family obligations, and I don't mind too much. Besides, I deal with you and Hayner mostly, so it's very pleasant, I don't find myself dreading combative or rude patients like I do sometimes."

"I can understand that. I imagine you have to kick me out now? I have a feeling this is against protocol."

"The doctor isn't due in for another three hours for Hayner's checkup, so if you don't say anything, neither will I," she answered with a smile.

"You're far too kind. I'm kind of comfortable right now anyway, be a shame to get up."

"I'm sure Hayner would be upset to wake up and find that you were gone, too. You know, you were the first person he asked after, he seemed very worried about you."

"He's a little dense like that, never seems to realize just how close to dying he comes. It's endearing though, when he isn't trying to hide his injuries."

She laughed lightly, "You two are more alike than you care to admit."

He quirked an eyebrow but didn't respond further as she checked off a few things on her clipboard, then smiled at him and left quietly. Seifer wasn't entirely sure if she was really right, since she didn't know them that well after only seeing them for a few days. She also wasn't a dense woman by any stretch of the imagination, so maybe she saw more than he did. Either way, he was way too comfortable to do anything but doze back off.

He woke up a little while later when he was alerted to another mana signature in the room with him, eyes snapping open to find Roxas watching him from where he was sitting on the window ledge. The younger man's chin was resting on his knees, his arms circling his legs to hold them tightly against his chest. He looked thoughtful, maybe a little sad.

"His boyfriend was the first person who could casually touch him without warning and not have him flip out, and that took a year. We'd been friends for years and even then he'd tense up in a hug, if you put a hand on his shoulder before he knew you were there he'd jerk away, worst-case scenario pull a gun before he realized who it was. Most of his life the only time people made physical contact with him was to hurt him. I remember being really glad I was skilled at healing magic at such a young age, because even when he was just thirteen he'd call me for help and I'd find him curled up in a pool of his own blood at one of the safe houses. I couldn't take him to a hospital because he'd be taken into custody and most likely murdered by a dirty cop hoping to prevent an information leak, so I had to patch him up myself."

Seifer struggled to take all the information in after just waking up, "You've always been a high-level healer then? I guess you got a lot of practice at it, might explain why you're one of the best now. Was he always this broken?"

"Up until Jack died he was actually pretty happy. You wouldn't think a person could be happy after all that, but he was. Few people tried to hurt him once he had a gun and an angry bodyguard, and he had someone to stay with him every night, instead of being alone or just with a one-night stand."

"He mentioned being at a bar when he met Jack, I take that to mean he got picked up by other men before that fairly often?"

"He did sleep around a lot when he was sixteen, which I didn't remotely approve of but it wasn't like I really had a right to stop him. I'm really not sure how he managed to keep his sexuality a secret for so long. Guess the gay community around here is pretty understanding about the whole 'you tell anyone about this and I will die in a gutter' part of anonymous sex."

"Guess we can be grateful for that, at the very least. Answer me one question…If you knew what was happening to Hayner from the beginning, why did you never take him away? Like when Axel got his apartment, why not smuggle Hayner away and hide him there? Zexion and Demyx could have done something as well, not to mention Tseng."

"I'm sure you think it's because we needed him as an inside force to bring the mafia to its knees, but I'm willing to bet you also realize that we're not really the types to value putting men behind bars higher than saving someone's life. We tried, once. Tseng spirited him away when he was fifteen, after a particularly nasty fight left him incapacitated for several days. The Don rounded up fifty kids from a day care center and held them for ransom in exchange for Hayner. For good measure, he killed three of the kids. We didn't try again after that."

Well fuck. He couldn't really be angry at them for not being willing to risk the lives of more innocent people just to keep Hayner safe. The brown-eyed man was important, but there was no way to justify risking the lives of more people for him after that happened.

"How many scars do you have, Seifer?" Roxas asked, his expression not giving any further explanation for the odd question.

"Twenty-eight, if you mean only the ones that will never really fade. Why do you ask?"

"Thought so. Hayner's got you beat, they just aren't as visible as some of yours. He's got three in the area surrounding his heart alone, I guess four now."

"I'll make an effort to catch up to him then."

"Try to make sure he doesn't get any new ones to start with. Even though I'm supposed to be nice to you now, I'm going to be pissed if he gets hurt because of you. Don't break his heart either."

"How would I manage that in the first place?"

"I would expect that kind of density from him, but not from you. I'm sure you'll get it eventually, even you can't be stupid enough not to."

"So…Are we good?"

"I suppose we have to be, right? It really isn't fair to continue being so hostile, we'd just be forcing Hayner into the middle of our fights and I don't think we want him to be a casualty of our blue-on-blue fire."

"We'd be pretty shitty friends if we made him choose sides."

"I guess…I'm sorry for being such a dick since we joined the force. It was a little bit juvenile."

Seifer narrowly avoided commenting that it was more than a little bit childish, instead just nodding and letting his eyes drift down to the man sleeping in his arms. He knew in the back of his mind that he'd have to get up soon to avoid being yelled at by the doctor, but it was just too comfortable this way for him to care for another few minutes. After a moment, Roxas walked over to the bedside, nearest Hayner.

"May I?"

The eldest blond understood what he meant immediately, nodding and watching the other toe off his shoes and crawl into bed behind their mutual friend. He laid on his side, flush with Hayner, one arm wrapping around his stomach. The youngest was essentially trapped between them, but somehow the scarred man knew he wouldn't mind overmuch.

An hour later amidst their dozing the brown-eyed man woke up, mumbling something cutely before opening his eyes and looking behind him in confusion. Roxas held his gaze for a while before the teen looked back at Seifer questioningly.

"I can't say this is the first time I've woken up with two other men in my bed, but it is the first time I've woken up with more than I went to sleep with."

"How are you feeling, Hayner?" Roxas asked, sliding his arm away so he could sit up in bed, looking down at the other two blonds.

"I'm fine, just wish I could leave already. It's like being in a prison, just with less freedom and fewer people to fight with."

"Well at least, unlike prison, you won't be here nearly as long. If you have to stay more than a couple of days, we'll just kidnap you. Right Roxas?"

"Naturally. Kidnapping members from overprotective hospitals is actually in the job description for a Turk. Fine print and all that," the shorter blond answered, deadpan.

"And they continue to treat you regardless?"

"They have to, otherwise they're discriminating. Really not a fantastic idea to do that to a bunch of high-powered detectives, you know?" The spiky-haired detective continued, quirking an eyebrow as if this was obvious to him.

"I suppose not. And does the whole station get in on this, or just a few people?"

"Normally about half, sometimes more or less depending on which doctors are around, which floor the person is on, and how many Turks are bored out of their fucking minds."

"Reno's probably going to be lurking around hoping for a chance to seduce the nurses in the name of rescue. Especially since he has a bunch of paperwork to do," Seifer added, rolling his eyes.

"How the hell do any of you get _bored_?" Hayner spoke up, finding the very idea that the people who quietly held all the power in the city government could suffer ennui ridiculous.

"Well, if we're too obvious in our shows of force the people and politicians will catch onto how much free reign we actually have. Our morality would be questioned, every time we ever shot someone dead would come under investigation by a third party, and basically we'd never be allowed to do any actual work again. So we try our best to be subtle. Turk subtle, anyways."

"…They actually consider any of you subtle? Axel burns down entire buildings during routine investigations. Seifer leveled a city block. Literally there are action movies that involve fewer explosions than the Turks cause."

"The tax payers are happy to pay for the damages because they can actually let their children walk home from school without worrying that they'll be kidnapped or shot. We don't really cause all that much collateral damage. Nothing that matters much, at least. An abandoned building being demolished sooner than expected here and there won't really bother too many people."

Just then the doctor walked in, immediately noticing the fact that there were two extra people in the hospital bed and quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Seifer, Roxas, I'm going to have to ask you to leave while I give Hayner a final checkup. I need to clear him for release," she carefully managed to avoid asking why they had all jammed themselves into the small hospital bed. They both left, Seifer glancing back at his partner once before exiting.

"How are you feeling today, Hayner?" She asked pleasantly, walking around the bed to stand by the side of it.

"Like a caged rat," he mumbled, then said louder, "Fine, really, can I leave yet?"

"You appear to be stabilized, normally we'd wait another week to release you, but since you're going to be in the care of a certified healer I am less inclined to worry about possible infections or you tearing your wounds open and bleeding to death. If you're fit to sign all the paperwork required of you, I'd say you're strong enough to leave."

"That bad?"

She nodded grimly and headed out, promising to return soon. About half an hour later she returned looking slightly flustered and handed him a clip board, a stack of papers, and a pen. Aching for a cigarette or at least someone to talk to, he nodded his thanks and got to work.

Half an hour later he was done, though he left a lot of sections blank. He had no idea if he had a family history of heart attack or migraines or why that was even relevant. They were all dead anyways, according to their records. Pressing the button to call the nurse, he rubbed his temples against the headache he felt coming on.

"What did you need, Hayner? Did you get all the paperwork done?" Sarah asked as she calmly strode into the room, adjusting her glasses.

"Most of it. I know nothing about my family medical history and I can't really ask," he answered, frowning.

"Oh dear, those idiots. I don't know why they would give you those forms, they must not have been paying attention. I'm very sorry for your losses, Hayner. It must be very difficult. I lost my mother a few years ago and I almost gave up on my job, I can't imagine."

"I'm glad you didn't give up, you seem to be very good at what you do," the blond man returned carefully.

"Same to you, Hayner. You really helped this city, I'm very grateful. Now let's get you out of here, shall we? I'll call Seifer and tell him to come pick you up, he should be here by the time I file these. He'll bring you something decent to wear too, I'm afraid your clothes were taken as evidence."

"I would have wanted clean ones anyways. Thank you. I'll just wait here I guess."

He sat by the window and looked out at the flowering trees, noticing birds darting between them. It felt odd, knowing that his father and every person involved with his operation was currently being held without bail in the jail, on the fast track to prison for life. It didn't seem possible, and he doubted he could believe that it was really over until he personally escorted the Don into his permanent cell.

Roughly fifteen minutes later his ears picked up on the distinctive sound of Seifer's combat boots on the tile floors and looked towards the doorway just as he entered it. He was wearing loose jeans, a backpack and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, if it wasn't for his piercing gaze and the scar on his forehead he would have looked like a normal civilian.

"Here, I had the chef from the hotel get all your street clothes from the suite. I wasn't sure if there was anything else you wanted so I told them not to clean it out yet," the older blond said as he walked over and handed the backpack to his partner. It contained a single set of clothes, Jack's hoodie, and his favorite shoes.

"I did want a few things, so thanks for that. And bringing me my clothes. Mind if I go change?"

"Go ahead, I'll be here," he answered, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning against the wall parallel to the bathroom. The brown-eyed man slipped into the cold white room and shut the door behind him, quickly shucking off his medical gown and pulling the clothes out of the bag. Dressing as carefully as he could to avoid tugging at his still healing injuries, he reveled in the feeling of finally being in actual clothing rather than a stupid hospital gown. Cracking the door open, he caught sight of Seifer before opening it fully and coming out.

"Your guard is still up, that's good. You've gotta be really careful from now on. You don't go anywhere without me, got it?"

"I understand. Are we going straight to your place?" Hayner replied as they started walking through the hospital towards what he hoped was an exit.

"Yes, I don't really want to stay out for very long with you in the car. Too dangerous. Besides, you probably want to see where you'll be spending a lot of your time for the next few months."

"You talk like I'm your captive now."

The blue-eyed man gave him a predatory smirk but didn't answer. The other knew he was just doing it to try and unnerve his new roommate. They made it out into the parking lot and he instantly knew which car was his partner's, a restored muscle car that was all black, from the tinted windows and headlights down to the glistening black rims.

"That's yours, isn't it? The black one?" He asked just to make conversation.

The older man nodded, "I restored it myself in my spare time in a friend's garage. Took a lot more work and a lot more money than I expected, but it was worth it."

Seifer walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for him with a lopsided smile, Hayner getting flustered at having the door opened for him like a girl.

"I'm not a mafia man anymore, I do know how to open a car door myself."

"I'm sure you do, Hayner, but I'm just being nice. No reason to get upset," he countered while sliding into the driver's seat.

"You are literally the only person on Earth that could be a dick while being considerate."

"Well if it makes you feel better, I am not at all a considerate driver."

Proving his point, he whipped out of the parking spot and started speeding onto the road leading through the heart of town. Switching lanes several times to pass cars that didn't get out of his way outright, they made it to his apartment complex on the other side of the city in half the time it would take any sane person.

"Your driving is literally terror-inducing," the younger man exhaled as the vehicle finally stopped and he felt he could breathe again. He took a moment to scope out the apartment complex, noticing it had several balconies overlooking the sea higher up.

"Griever likes it," the scarred blond shrugged, heading into the building and making a beeline for the elevator.

"You take your cat with you on drives?"

"He's a good watchcat, makes sure no one tries to jack my car if I need to go to a bad side of town. You'll understand when you meet him."

They got out on the fifth floor, which had a grand total of two doors down the entirety of the corridor. The carpet was red and the walls were painted an alternating light and darker brown, with trim separating the lower half, which was a pinkish white. It was brightly lit and actually fairly nice-looking. Seifer opened the door to the one on the right and pushed his companion in, walking in behind him and shutting the door.

He had just enough time to take in the large windows covering an entire wall and a half of the living room they entered before he was tackled to the ground by a large black animal. Seeing nothing but sharp white teeth and yellow eyes he tried to force the furry creature off him before it took a chunk out of his neck but it was too heavy.

"Griever, gentle!" Seifer barked, not seeming to notice that his pet was trying to kill his charge. The large cat started slightly and began gently massaging Hayner's stomach with its large paws, purring loudly. Claws emerged as its digits moved up and down.

"Your fucking housecat is a _panther?_ Really. You thought this was an exotic mix of a domestic cat and something else? Are you an _idiot_? This is a full-sized jungle cat!" The brown-eyed blond couldn't help but raise his voice as the shock slowly ebbed away, to be replaced by anger.

"I've never been to the jungle, how should I know?" Seifer snapped back loudly.

"Did you skip your fucking basic biology class or what? Everyone above five knows what a panther looks like! This thing is ridiculously dangerous, plus illegal to have. It could have killed me just now!"

"Why would he kill you, you're clearly my guest. Griever is as well trained as a dog, he just likes you. He's never been so affectionate to anyone before. And yes, I did skip my biology classes, they were useless anyway."

"You…You're…" Hayner trailed off, out of breath and realizing there was no way of convincing his partner that his cat was a killing machine. It didn't seem to want to end him at the moment, at least. In fact it had laid its head on his chest and was purring contently, golden eyes watching him lazily.

"Griever, up. I need to show Hayner the house."

The black cat obeyed, rising gracefully and rubbing on his master's legs. The icy-eyed man gave his partner a hand up and ignored his glare as he gestured to the living room.

"There's a balcony through the sliding glass door on the far side of the living room. On the opposite side from the living room is the kitchen which you're not allowed to use until I'm certain you can actually cook without sending the place up, down the hall is my room on the left, a weight room on the right, there are two guest bedrooms beyond those, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall. Any questions?"

Hayner shook his head and absently rubbed the forming scar on his chest gingerly, noting with a start that his necklace was missing.

"Did they confiscate the necklace that Vaan gave me?"

"Yeah, but Roxas stole it back. He said he'd stop by and give it back sometime this week, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"If nothing else, once we're off vacation I can just corner him at the station and force him to give it to me. Speaking of which…are you sure none of the cops at the station are going to be suspicious of me? I know everyone is going to kick out those who cause a real problem, but that doesn't stop people from gossiping, and it's fucking hard to work with people who think you're a criminal. The whole "undercover agent" thing Tseng's been selling to the news stations isn't going to hold much water for anyone with half a brain."

"Which is why it's lucky that anyone with half a brain knows better than to fuck around with the Turks. If they can't work with you they won't be working anymore. I'll be with you the whole time you're there, I won't let anyone start shit with you."

"I can handle myself, but thanks for the offer of support. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to crash for a while," he said, aiming for vaguely polite but probably coming off as more of a dismissive asshole.

"Hey, when you wake up, I have something for you."

More than a little surprised that Seifer would give him something other than food, companionship and protection, he wasn't sure what to make of the statement, simply replying, "Wake me up whenever you make dinner, if you do. Not that you have to, or I'm really exp-"

"I'll wake you up, don't worry. Get some rest," the older blond cut him off.

Trying his best not to show how uncomfortable he was in this new setting, he entered the guest room on his left, shut the door, and proceeded to collapse onto the bed. He didn't even have the energy to undress or get under the covers, just slowly letting his eyelids fall closed as he slid into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Seifer stretched out on the couch and attempted to relax, watching his pet with one eye as the cat pushed and pawed at Hayner's door until it opened, slinking inside. The beast had a burning fascination with the new resident of the home and Seifer wasn't entirely certain why. He could just barely hear the sound of the waves crashing against the cement several stories below, noting that the wind must have picked up significantly since he was here earlier.<p>

Leaning his head back against a throw pillow, he willed his tense muscles to loosen. They were stiff and sore from his never ending state of being on edge for the past two or three weeks. As they slowly became less strained he felt light, as if he was waking up from a long nightmare. The finality of things surrounding the case set in, the blond realizing he had really done it. He managed to take down the entire mafia and save the only innocent man in it. All of his assignments were difficult, often bordering on impossible, but none of them could compare to what this one had taken to finish. Several times he had toyed with the idea that he might actually die during the past few weeks, something he never really thought about before.

He closed his eyes as he dozed off, immediately assaulted with images of an impossibly strong thunderstorm and a familiar object laying in the mud next to his gloved hand. Upright and breathing heavily in a flash, he tried to make sense of what he'd just seen. It couldn't be a memory, because he'd never seen such a powerful storm before. However, as he clung to the thoughts to prevent them from escaping his memory as dreams often did, he recognized his gun blade as the object in the mud. Why he'd ever need to use Hyperion again eluded him, but he resolved to speak to Tseng about the episode whenever he got the chance.

Uneasy, he got up and stepped out onto the balcony. The salty breeze blew fitfully through his hair and he relaxed a little, leaning on the railing over the ocean. Zodiark stirred on his chest, the gem pulsing gently. Looking out to the horizon, Seifer had a feeling deep in his bones that something was coming. For now, he breathed deeply of the moist air and tried to imagine a world in which he could actually catch a break from nightmares, major catastrophes, and men with guns.

Half an hour later Griever began pawing at the glass door outside, beckoning his master back into the apartment. Once inside, the older blond noticed that Hayner was slumped on the couch, a blanket wrapped around him. As he approached, he noted that the smaller man was also shivering slightly, even though it was essentially impossible for him to be cold, covered in a blanket and a hoodie in 70 degree weather.

"Trouble sleeping?" Seifer asked as he sat down next to his companion.

"Nightmares. Couldn't get back to sleep," he answered, burrowing further into the blanket.

"Did you want me to cast a sleep spell?"

"Not right now, maybe later. I'm not really tired anymore."

Hayner had never been so shaken by a nightmare before that he had refused a tranquil sleep, meaning this must have been a new one, rather than one of his recurring nightmares. The older detective didn't prod further, knowing all too well how delicate the other's mental situation was at the moment.

"Well, since you're awake, I wanted to give you this. You don't…have to accept it if you don't want it," he added as he pulled the object off his neck.

While he was stuck in the hospital he'd sent Fuu to a silversmith he trusted to turn the complex pendant that held both Zodiark and Ultima into two, one for him, and the other for his new partner. The sandy-blond man eyed the gift for a moment before reaching out hesitantly and taking it from him gingerly, as if it was going to burn him any moment. The red gem within glowed brightly once then faded to its normal radiance, and he carefully put it on.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me," the brown-eyed blond said finally, making eye contact long enough to convey what he couldn't manage to put into words. He knew it signified a binding contract, of both him to Ultima and him to Seifer. By putting the necklace on he'd made a promise to be the scarred man's other half, his partner on the force and his companion everywhere else.

"You can give it up anytime. Just ask." The older of the two added, eyes flicking away.

"No. This is forever, and I prefer it that way. This is something I chose, something I got my way because of my own actions. I'm a detective now, and you're my partner, and that's never going to change."

"Can't say I ever could have imagined this just a few weeks ago. None of this. It's sort of surreal, you know?"

"I always planned on being dead by now, so yeah, I know what you mean. I really wouldn't have a place to go if it wasn't for you."

"You have to thank Tseng too, for training you. He risked a lot with the whole operation. All the Turks did."

"I don't know why he bothered with me, or why you all want to protect me so badly."

"It's what we're trained to do, and what we did before we ever entered the academy. It's in our blood to risk ourselves to protect others and bring justice to this city. You included. Tseng wouldn't have wasted his time with you if he didn't see that."

Hayner sighed and let the blanket fall loose. He could feel the unsettling presence of Ultima in his mind from the time he accepted the necklace, and having her rove through his memories and emotions was exhausting. It was getting harder and harder to read Seifer's intentions and he knew that soon their constant inescapable proximity would begin to drive him up a wall. It would be easier if he knew that the older cop was completely uninterested, but the blue-eyed man had the maddening habit of constantly flirting with him, intentional or not.

He knew those ice-colored eyes were watching him without even glancing over, carefully avoiding their gaze. Griever slinked over and jumped onto the couch between them, settling his large head and forepaws on Hayner's lap. Petting the large cat, he managed to ignore Seifer long enough for the other to get up and move into the kitchen, pulling out a few pots and beginning to boil water. Quietly leaving the room to go lean on the railing to the balcony, staring down into the ocean, the sandy-blond wasn't quite sure what to do with himself anymore.

Something about his earlier nightmare still bothered him, images of Namine with blood in her blond bangs trying to stem the bleeding while healing a wound in the side of a man with brown hair and a scar just like Seifer's while Kairi defended her from _something_ with what looked like a giant key. He was fairly certain he was completely losing his mind. Closing his eyes for a moment, he began to doze off, rousing when the cat rubbed against his legs and very nearly knocked him over about fifteen minutes later.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or am I going to have to force it out of you?" Seifer asked, apparently able to fucking _teleport_ behind people at will.

Turning to face his roommate, he was startled to realize just how close they were, once again the taller man had him effectively trapped, "Can you please try to not pin me to things?"

Placing his hands on either side of the lithe detective, Seifer leaned in close, that annoying look in his eyes like he knew he was getting away with something. Brown eyes glared at him in return as Hayner valiantly attempted to not flush at their proximity. Holding his ground for several minutes under the other's intense gaze, he eventually gave in and looked away.

"I'm just a little wary about going back to sleep right now. It's not exactly normal for me to have different nightmares, it hasn't happened in so long I really don't know how to deal with it. And no, I don't really want to talk about it either."

"If I use a sleep spell on you, or we dream-share, you won't have to deal with nightmares. I won't force it on you now, but if this gets to be a problem, I won't ask. I know you're used to acting independently, but from now on every decision you make affects both of us. I won't allow you to continue to do a shit job of taking care of yourself."

"The same to you. You may think it's still your fucking job to protect me, but I don't want you to constantly pull ridiculous stunts that put you in mortal danger. If this is going to work out, you're going to have to let me get hurt once in a while. No more of your self-sacrificing bullshit, understood?"

"If it'll get you to be straight with me, then I'm fine with that."

"Would really rather not be straight with you, anything but in fact," he returned, smirking at the look of surprise the other failed to hide.

"You hungry? If you're not going to sleep, you might as well eat. You lost a lot of weight over the past few weeks."

It was a truly pathetic attempt at rerouting the conversation, but he didn't press it. It already felt like he was imposing on his companion and he didn't want to be an asshole on top of that. Besides, the other man had a point, he was starting to notice his clothes were fitting more loosely than they really should. If Seifer noticed it, then the others would too, he knew it was a matter of time before Olette or Namine were calling him every day asking if he'd eaten or not.

"If it'll get you off my back for the moment, sure."

The larger blond stepped away from him and retreated inside, headed towards the kitchen. Taking a deep breath and sighing it out, he followed, stopping to let Griever in after him, the cat still following him around like a retriever with separation anxiety issues. Immediately the smell of the food assaulted him, whatever it was it had a white sauce with it. Sitting down at the table, he was surprised when a plate of shrimp Alfredo with broccoli was set down in front of him.

"You made this? From scratch?"

"It's a pretty simple, quick dish to make so long as you get pre-cooked shrimp and can bother to read directions. Only takes about fifteen or twenty minutes," Seifer answered with a shrug as he sat down opposite, refraining from eating.

"Please marry me immediately," the brown-eyed detective said quickly before shoving a forkful into his mouth. As much as he wanted to savor the taste, he ended up essentially inhaling the pasta as he was struck by sudden hunger. After he finished the first plate, Seifer slid his own over with a knowing, self-satisfied smirk that would have been infuriating if Hayner had the attention span necessary for emotional response at the moment. Once finished with that, he downed some milk and slowly slipped into a food coma.

"No sleeping at the table, come on," the scarred cop chided as he lifted his smaller partner into his arms and carried him into another room. It was a dark red color, with a large bed in the center pressed up against the wall adjacent to the door. He was set down on the mattress and failed to notice any other detail of the room, gaze caught by the eyes staring down at him as the older man began undressing him, starting with his shoes.

"If you're trying to seduce me, you're going to have to take me on an actual date. I'm not this easy."

"Believe me, if I wanted to seduce you, I wouldn't be trying, I'd be succeeding."

"Of course," Hayner responded, rolling his eyes as the other pulled his hoodie off. Once divested of everything but his pants and shirt, he looked at his companion expectantly, wondering what action he would take next.

"Am I really going to have to undress you every time you need to sleep?" The scarred detective asked as he unbuttoned, unzipped, and tugged his partner's jeans off, leaving him in his shirt and boxers.

"Well you're going to have to do a lot more for me if you expect a show," the sandy-blond quipped back, lip curling into a smirk as he pulled his shirt off.

"Oh, really? Like what sort of things would I need to do?" He asked, leaning over to pin the smaller man to the bed by the shoulders.

Hayner knew they would find some other way to mess with each other's head once Seifer had won their first game of chess, but he didn't quite expect it to jump right to finding out what their sexual boundaries with each other were. As much as he was up for another game, he had the feeling he'd just lose again. Though it said a lot about the other Turk that he'd initiate a best two out of three match when he'd already won.

"Whatever I want, all the time?" The brown-eyed blond suggested helpfully to the man above him.

"That seems like a lot more work than it's worth."

"How do you know if you don't try?" He said, pouting cutely.

"I suppose I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, just this once. What do you want?"

"For you to shut up, take your clothes off and lay down already, I'm tired and I want you to go to bed with me instead of sneaking around the place."

"This is my house you know, I'm not sneaking around if I own it," he said as he pulled off his shirt and pants and got into bed next to the teen. Griever jumped up into the bed with them, sprawling out next to Hayner. The large cat purred loudly as its owner pulled his brown-eyed companion closer, the two resting flush as they had become accustomed to over the past weeks. Seifer starting mumbling something quickly and Hayner just had the time to realize what he was saying and make a noise of complaint before he was knocked unconscious.

* * *

><p>Slowly waking up after a full night without nightmares was something he could definitely get used to, as startling as it was. Glancing up at his silent partner in the light from a dim lamp the other must have left on, he caught a hint of movement on his face before he opened one eye to look down at Hayner. Just before he recognized the other there was a wolf-like ferocity in his cold eyes, like he was about to tear into whatever he was next to. It was a sobering reminder that at one point the detective had been a small-time criminal and would continue to be a killer, even if he had a good reason.<p>

"Good morning, sleep well?" The older man asked as he absently rubbed the short blond stubble forming on his chin.

It dawned on him that Seifer had put him under a spell last night, and he glared darkly as he responded, "Just fine, but don't do that again."

"It was for your own good. You hungry?"

"Not yet. Can we just…stay like this for a few minutes? I'm not ready to get up yet."

Blue eyes softened around the edge and he pulled them closer, hand moving up to massage his scalp. Hayner's chest ached like he was being stabbed and he felt lethargic, lulled into letting his head rest on the detective's broad chest, eyes closing. The panther was rumbling loudly behind him, moving to lay snugly against his back. He knew he was dozing off, but he was too tired to bring himself to stay awake.

* * *

><p>Normally impatient, Seifer found himself content to wait for his partner to wake up again, he could sense how worn out the younger man was by how unguarded he had become. Even though he itched to get out of bed and get breakfast started or just do <em>something<em>, for the moment he remained still and studied the teen's face. He always seemed so much younger when he was sleeping and not in the throes of a nightmare, some of the tension normally present in his face loosening, a touch of a smile at the corners of his lips.

Griever regarded him with golden eyes from behind Hayner's head, the cat clearly pleased with the new addition to the house. To be honest with himself, the eldest blond would be just fine with waking up like this for the rest of his life, and he wasn't quite sure what that meant for the two of them. It was obvious the other man was interested in him, at the very least on a physical level, but Seifer really wanted something better than a friends-with-benefits situation. Hayner may have been through a hell of a lot in his life and had mountains of emotional and physical boundaries to get over, but his partner wanted to at least make an attempt at putting him back together and keeping him that way.

Time ticked by slowly, glancing at the clock told him it was two in the morning, meaning they had slept for at least twelve hours. At some point they would have to try and normalize their sleeping patterns, probably a week before they decided to go back to work. Thinking about it sent a small twinge of anticipation through him, he hated having to take breaks from the job. Even now all he really wanted to do was get back to work as quickly as possible.

The smaller blond began to mumble in his sleep, shifting slightly against his companion. As his face contorted in pain Seifer gently shook him awake, not liking the cold fear in his eyes before he took in his surroundings. Blinking a few times, he finally sat up, facing away from the other man. His back was slumped as he ruffled his hair, movements stiff from their long rest.

"Want me to make you something for breakfast?" The older detective started with a neutral topic, not sure what state of mind his roommate had woken up in.

"Who the hell makes breakfast at two in the morning?"

"Someone who gets called into work in the middle of the night more often than not? Get used to it, you have to deal with it now too."

"What are we going to do until the sun comes up? I am going to go insane being cooped up like this for weeks," he added almost threateningly, rubbing his face before turning to study the blue-eyed cop.

"I never said you couldn't leave the apartment, just not without me, and not when I think it might be dangerous. For now I don't think we'll have a problem, I can protect us well enough from whoever might be out this late. Tseng would call me if he heard anything about a major effort to kill you, so if we run into trouble it'll likely be from small groups or a lone wolf."

"You manage to sound so reassuring," he returned irritably, gently touching the new scar on his chest and wincing slightly.

"If you move around too much or wear yourself out, it's going to take longer for that to heal completely."

"Thank you Doctor Obvious, I didn't know that already. Can we just go somewhere? I haven't actually been able to take a walk outside in like a week or something. It's horrid."

"Sure, get dressed and we'll head out. Do you need any help?"

"I'll be fine without your help, thank you. You are only ever allowed to undress me, not the other way around."

"Oh? What if I wanted to undress you right now? Is that allowed?"

"Sure, but I'm pretty sure you don't have the balls to try it right now."

"You're going to regret giving me permission to do that one day, Hayner. Trust me," Seifer said as a sign of surrender for the moment, eyes calculating.

"I'm pretty sure I won't regret it if you ever grow a pair and try, actually," the brown-eyed man answered with a smirk before getting up and grabbing his clothes off the floor. He dressed facing away from his protector, he knew the other was watching him but he didn't really give a shit.

Turning around, he found his companion already dressed and ready to go, complete with guns and coat. As they walked out of the apartment Griever followed, Seifer's lack of reaction meaning it was completely normal for him to take his panther on a walk. Apparently the whole neighborhood was either too terrified of him to mention that he was strolling alongside a deadly predator or they were all just as batshit crazy as the cop himself. As the younger detective headed for the door to the stairwell, the scarred man grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and yanked him back toward the elevator.

"Griever doesn't like going down the stairs, and until you're fully recovered I'd really rather if you didn't go jumping down flights of them."

"I can actually take the stairs like a normal human being, you know."

"Just shut up and get in the damn elevator," he said, feigning impatience as he shoved his companion into the open doors. Griever sat up, waiting for him to get in and jam the button. Having done this, the older blond turned back towards his partner, watching him in silence.

"You were having another nightmare almost as soon as you fell asleep. That's not normal, you know."

Dark eyes looked away, Hayner's face falling a little. It was clear he didn't want to talk about it again. The game of keep away he had going on with whatever it was that was plaguing his sleep was getting annoying already. If he didn't know what was going on he was helpless to try and stop it, and if there was anything he loathed, it was feeling helpless.

"It's really none of your concern what I dream about, Seifer," he retorted simply as the elevator doors opened back up, walking out quickly before the other could corner him. Griever jumped after him as he exited the building before his protector could catch up, likely about to pull one of his running away stunts, _again._ Seriously considering putting his roommate on a leash as he ran out of the apartment complex into the black night, he looked around wildly before seeing movement to his left.

He recognized his faithful pet bounding after Hayner, though behind the cat there was some sort of inky blob on the ground that managed to be darker than the night around it. As he took off after his friend, he noticed that the shape was actually _moving, _and a closer look told him it radiated arcane magic. The lithe blond wasn't running, he was being chased, and right into an alley that Seifer knew was a dead end. Ultima's rage was bleeding into his mind through their junction even without being in contact with her artifact, meaning the summon was roused enough to manifest.

The sandy-blond teen turned as soon as he reached the end of the alley, uncensored terror in his eyes as the mass formed into a huge creature with long antennae, two yellow eyes glinting out of what must have been its head. Griever roared as his hackles raised, standing between the monster and the defenseless detective. Casting a fire spell gave the shadow pause, but didn't seem to do much damage as it turned right back to its target. Sinking back into the ground, it slid like oil across the ground, right past the panther. It descended on the young Turk, black claws trying to dig into his chest as he blocked its attacks with his arms.

Lips forming the words to a spell he didn't even know as Ultima momentarily hijacked his mind, Seifer moved between the shadow creature and his partner, taking a slash to the chest before he finished the spell, causing a column of pure light magic to careen down from the sky, slamming into the beast and completely obliterating it.

As the Esper faded out of his mind and he came back to his senses, his first thought was to check on Hayner, the second that his chest _fucking hurt. _Turning to face his injured friend, he found the younger Turk already on the ground, breathing heavily and the cuts on his arms still exuding remnants of dark magic. Kneeling next to him, he healed the gashes and put a calming hand on his shoulder. Lifting his head he looked like he was about to say something when his dark eyes widened in shock.

"Seifer, what the fuck, you are bleeding everywhere. Why haven't you fucking healed yourself?"

Glancing down, he realized his companion wasn't joking, his chest had been sliced open in four horizontal lines and his shirt was already wet with blood. Muttering a few healing spells, he watched the wounds knit closed, then looked back to Hayner.

"You okay? Why didn't you run back into the building to get me if you were in trouble?"

"I'm…fine isn't the word, but I'm not dead so better than I could have been. And, I didn't think about it, I just fucking ran. That…that thing is straight out of my nightmares, and I don't mean that metaphorically."

"You've been dreaming about those things and now one chases you down in a dark alley in the middle of the night? I don't think I need to tell you how seriously fucked-"

He was interrupted by sirens as a squad car and a detective's vehicle pulled up to the other end of the fairly short alley, headlights shining on them. Shielding his eyes, he recognized Demyx and Zexion exiting the second vehicle, motion to the other officers to remain in the car.

"Do either of you need medical attention?" The slate-haired man asked as the pair got close enough to their comrades to speak, both offering them a hand up.

"Not at the moment, what the hell are you two doing here?" The scarred cop returned, the light from the two cars making his eyes glow unnaturally.

"You do know you just used the most powerful white magic spell there is, right? Did you honestly think you could cast Holy and not have us come running? Tseng needs to speak to you immediately," Zexion said shortly, something irritable about his demeanor as he handed his phone over.

"Yes Sir?"

"Seifer, care to explain to me how you cast a spell that you do not know and do not have enough skill to use?"

"Ultima, Sir. She took over in order to save Hayner."

A slight pause, "To save Hayner from what, precisely?"

"I…can't really come up with a word for it. It was a creature made of arcane magic, black, with long claws and yellow eyes."

"Seifer, report to the station immediately, bring Hayner with you. That is an order."

The conversation ended with a click, leaving the man on the other end slightly bewildered, not used to his boss hanging up on him, or ordering him to report to work when he was _on vacation. _

"I guess we're riding back to the station with you two. Mind if I take Griever with me? Can't very well leave him out here, unless the boys want to take him back in. Tseng said immediately, and I don't think he was kidding."

"I don't mind, so long as he doesn't take a swipe at my head," Demyx piped up with a small smile.

Grabbing his partner's hand to keep him from falling over as they walked to the car, he tried to avoid looking as worried as he was. Whatever just attacked them was targeting Hayner specifically, and that was beyond not okay, not to mention the smaller blond was having nightmares about it. As they got into the car he just hoped Tseng would have a damn good explanation for them.

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><p>Thus begins the second story arc. I'd like to say that I hope this chapter is a good antidote for the cliffhanger from earlier, but I am fairly certain it isn't, because it just introduces more loose ends than it ties up. At the very least I do wish you all well, and hope you're excited for the other third or half of the story, however long it ends up being. On a more business-like note, I am not actually done writing chapter 6, so it will be at minimum 2 weeks before that comes out. Do try to be patient with me, and review because it makes me write faster. Again, thanks for all the reviews and favorites, I'll see you all soon~<p> 


	6. Against All Odds

In the interests of fair warning, the tail end of this chapter contains an explicit scene as mentioned was possible in the warning for the first chapter.

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><p>Demyx filled the car with noise as he explained in minute detail everything that had transpired since the last time he'd seen Hayner. The youngest of them wasn't really paying attention, pressed up against his roommate and showing signs of moderate shock.<p>

"You still with me, Hayner?" He asked quietly, nudging the other slightly.

"Yeah, just…I have no idea what the fuck is going on anymore. I'm not used to my dreams coming to life in front of me. I'm…" He trailed off, Seifer knowing that his next word was going to be 'scared'.

"Hey, it's nothing we can't handle, I'll protect you."

"Yes, and then you'll end up hurt worse than me. Fuck, I think I'm cursed."

He buried his head in his hands, positively radiating despair, fear and frustration. It pissed the elder of the pair off that incredibly bad shit seemed to follow his partner around, wishing the teen could get a break every once in a while. For now though, he had to just play the cards they were dealt, pulling the smaller man closer until their bodies were completely flush. Zexion's eyes flicked up to look at them in the rearview mirror, but he didn't comment.

Hayner knew he was being too quiet as he just stared blankly out the window next to his knight, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to say anything more. Every time he blinked he saw the raw hunger in the black shadow's eyes as it advanced on him as soon as he went outside, like it had been waiting too long for its prey. He knew from his nightmares exactly what it wanted too, the thought sending another spike of fear through him.

Ultima whispered soothingly at the edges of his mind, calming him down a little, though not as much as his partner's grounding hold on him. If he was going to be honest, except for being way too curious and trampling over his memories, the Scion of Light had been nothing but kind to him. Knowing how she treated his counterpart made him suspicious of her sudden change of heart. She had even used her power to control Seifer in order to protect him, something he was pretty sure summons weren't known to do.

They arrived at the station and Seifer physically pulled him out of the car when he failed to notice fast enough to get out on his own, hand staying on his hip to support him. Once inside they got several looks from the officers that were working the night shift, most likely reacting to their bloody and torn clothing. Griever was left with the receptionist, all too happy to jump up onto her desk in the hopes of being petted. They were led back to Tseng's office, Demyx moving to knock on the door when it opened in front of him, revealing a frighteningly serious Chief.

"Demyx, Zexion, thank you for bringing these two here. Please return to your normal duties."

Surprise showed on their faces at his hasty dismissal, but they left anyway as the dark-eyed man beckoned the other two into his office, resolutely shutting the door behind them. He told them in clipped tones to sit down in the two chairs opposite his desk, sighing uncharacteristically as he sat down himself.

"Does this look like the creature that attacked you tonight?" He asked, sliding a folder across the desk, the scarred cop picking it up first. Flicking it open, he only had to glance at the picture inside to confirm that it was indeed the same thing. He tossed it back onto the impeccably neat surface.

"Yeah, care to explain to me what the fuck that thing is?"

"It's called a Neoshadow, a member of a group of monsters called Heartless. We've been encountering them on an increasingly frequent basis in outlying cities and more recently in those closer to us, but we assumed it would take at least another month for them to infiltrate Twilight Town. This is the first one we're aware of within the city limits. I'm going to hazard a guess and say it targeted Hayner?"

"It came after me as soon as I left the building. I get the feeling it was waiting for me the whole time I was in the apartment. That's when the nightmares started."

Tseng's left eyebrow quirked slightly as he regarded the speaker, mouth twisting down at one corner, "You've been having nightmares about the Heartless?"

"Only a few so far. The last one involved the thing that attacked me right after," he replied somewhat shakily.

"Do you remember what exactly happened in the dream? Any detail is important."

"There were several of them, like a swarm or something. They overtook me," he breathed a heavy sigh, as if to steady himself, glancing away from both of them, "Killed me, and then ripped my heart out and ate it. That's what they want, people's hearts; this one was after the same thing."

The Chief rubbed his temples wearily, some cross between irritation and worry actually managing to make it past the mask he usually maintained so well. Meanwhile, the blue-eyed man was trying very hard not to flip the hell out, because _what the fuck was going on. _What the hell kind of monster actually eats people's hearts? And why didn't Hayner tell him about his nightmares before this?

"They feed off the darkness in people's hearts, at least that's what the lead researcher explained to all of us who know. Those who have lived violent and remorseful lives, especially those with severe depression and anxiety disorders, are the most likely to be the first targets. Cloud was attacked very frequently up until you rescued Zack. Eventually, as their numbers grow, the Heartless will grab any heart they can get. I'm afraid I really have nothing very comforting to say, Hayner. Once more of them get into the city it is likely you will become a target of their hunger again."

"What can we do to stop them? I assume there's no way to just kill them all at once, or you would have done that already," Seifer added, eyes hard.

"Light magic tends to be very useful against the shadow heartless, since they are made of darkness. Weapons and other magic can do damage, but are not quite as effective, unless fighting some of the special Heartless that typically invade an area much later. Having Hayner junction with Ultima was actually quite brilliant, she is best equipped to protect him, or help you protect him. And, as far as we know there is no way for us to eradicate them, we have no idea where they come from but wherever their source may be, it seems to have a very large amount of them holed up."

"So there's really not much for us to do except go about our normal activities and hope we're not being stalked by shadow monsters at all hours of the night?" The larger detective deadpanned, growing more frustrated by the minute.

"They will appear during the day as well."

"Well that's terribly reassuring."

"I'm not here to make you feel better about a situation that has no high points, I'm here to make sure you know how to keep yourselves alive."

"Is Roxas working the night shift? I'd like to at least get my necklace back from him, if not speak with him," Hayner piped up, brown eyes shifting from his partner to his boss.

"Yes, I believe he's currently in his office with Axel, they've been filling out a report for about an hour now. I need to speak with Seifer alone, so if you'd like to go speak with him now that would be appreciated." The way the Wutaian man said it made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion, "However, you are not allowed to speak of this incident to anyone, not even fellow Turks. Until we know exactly what we're dealing with in the city I'd rather no one else know."

Nodding uncomfortably, the teen stood up and walked to the door, taking a moment to set a hand on his partner's shoulder as he went by. As soon as the door closed behind him Tseng leveled his subordinate with a heavy stare, one the younger man was all too used to seeing.

"So what did I do wrong this time?"

"Keep tabs on Hayner's nightmares. If you have to, convince Ultima to pull you into them. The Neoshadows especially use dark magic to cause nightmares in order to weaken and confuse their prey. If he dreams about them again it likely means one is nearby," a beat, then, "Have you had any odd dreams lately?"

"Just one. All I really remember from it was seeing my gunblade laying in the mud next to me during a massive electrical storm."

"A few Turks have reported dreams with a similar theme. Keep me posted if any more like that one crop up. Ask Hayner if he's dreamed of anything similar."

"What aren't you telling me, Chief?"

"If and when it becomes relevant, I'll discuss it with all of the Turks. Until then, just stay alert Detective. You are dismissed, hopefully the rest of your time off will be a little less eventful."

He stepped out of the office only to find his partner leaning against the wall next to it, eyeing him calculatingly. It was clear the younger man had been eavesdropping, quite effectively if the excessively observant man behind the desk hadn't noticed him. Pushing away from the wall, he headed over to Roxas and Axel's shared office, not even bothering to knock before pushing it open.

The spiky-haired blond glanced up from his desk in annoyance, shock registering on his face when he saw who it was and what state they were in. His partner was staring at them from over the edge of a document he apparently hadn't thought to set down yet.

"Seriously, Hayner. What the hell is wrong with you? The last two times I've physically seen you, you were pinned against a wall by Seifer and then you were in the hospital having just come out of a coma. Now you show up bloody and torn up at two fucking thirty in the morning. Are you actually capable of greeting me in normal circumstances?"

"Hello to you too, Rox. Having a bad night, as usual. Do you happen to have my necklace on you? I'd like it back if so."

"Yeah, I do. What happened to you? It looks like you were attacked by an animal or something," he answered, unlocking and pulling open a drawer in his desk before tossing the object over.

"That's classified," the brown-eyed detective answered bluntly as he slipped the artifact back on.

"Well, are you at least okay?" Roxas barely managed to avoid giving him the suspicious glare he was all too used to when concealing the truth from him.

"Yeah, _we_ are fine. Thanks to Seifer."

Looking like he'd rather punch himself in the face, he grudgingly said, "Thanks for protecting Hayner, Seifer."

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure, Roxas," the eldest blond returned, clearly rubbing their forced friendliness in. Roxas gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing.

"You need a ride home?" Axel guessed, clearly trying to avoid an all-out fight between the two.

"Yes, actually. Are you busy?" Hayner replied, ignoring the glares the blue-eyed men were giving each other. He wasn't feeling up to dealing with their childish bickering, he was already on edge.

"Not busy enough to pass up a chance at escape," the redhead smirked, grabbing his keys and walking over to his boyfriend. He leaned down and gave the irritated man a kiss on the temple, mumbling something the others didn't care to catch. They walked out of the office to the front, and for a moment the younger blond was pretty sure they were going to have to physically force Griever to leave, since he was currently thoroughly enjoying having his ears scratched by the receptionist, but the cat noticed them and immediately jumped down and trotted over.

After some very serious threats on his life and person by Seifer, the fiery cop promised not to drive like a complete lunatic, leaving the other to wonder precisely how horrifying Axel's driving was for it to be _worse_ than the scarred man's. The fact that they even had licenses was a miracle. Petting the cat sitting in between them, he thought about what the Chief had said to his partner in private. It was more than a little worrying that other people had been having similar dreams, to the point that Tseng wanted them to keep track of them. That their boss had essentially told the man with ice-colored eyes to spy on his dreams definitely didn't make him feel like talking about them.

They were somehow able to get home safely, Hayner saying goodbye to their ride and managing not to stalk back into the apartment complex like he wanted to. Maybe it was completely irrational to get angry at his partner for being willing to invade his mental privacy for some unknown and most likely inane ultimate good. He still wanted to take that walk they had attempted before everything had gone to shit, _again_, but he guessed his friend would want to take a break after being sliced open. He'd just have to find some other way to entertain himself. He was not going to keep sneaking out in the middle of the night, not only because it was stupid dangerous at this point, but because he knew his companion would put him on a leash.

The Esper he'd junctioned with continued to whisper at the edges of his mind, he wasn't sure if she was actually trying to say something or just fill his head with white noise so he didn't forget she was there. As they entered the apartment the larger man shed his coat and shirt, moving to the bathroom to wash the blood of his chest.

"You should drink an ether, your mana levels are probably pretty low from that spell you used," the younger blond called after him before flopping down on the couch. Absently he noted he'd have to mend his hoodie sleeves where they'd been torn open as well as clean the blood stains. Pulling it off, he went into the kitchen to run some water to at least get out what he could now. Getting viscera out of clothing was always a bitch. Squeezing out the excess water, he moved to his room to get a hanger out of the closet. Finding none there, he slipped into Seifer's room and pulled open one of the double doors of the closet.

Initially he was surprised to find a sword with a gun attached to the curved hilt just leaning up against the inside of the space, next to it hanging up was a long sleeveless white coat. Grabbing an unused hanger off the floor and standing back up, he noticed something else a bit out of place in the otherwise normal wardrobe, on a small shelf above was a black beanie with some sort of symbol on the front. If Hayner had to guess, he's say all were relics from when the older man was in the Twilight Disciplinary Committee.

"Looking for something, Hayner?"

"Just something to hang my hoodie on so it can dry until I can find the time to clean and mend it. Why do you leave your sword out in the open, shouldn't it be in a case or something?"

"What good is a weapon you can't get to immediately?" He answered simply, advancing into the room, very much shirtless.

"You feeling alright? Does your chest still hurt?" The smaller detective asked, noting the faint white lines across the other man's chest that weren't there before. They would fade in a few days, but still, he regretted being completely fucking useless in the earlier fight.

"Nope, hasn't really hurt since I healed it. How about you, feeling better than you were in the car?"

"I'm fine now, just kind of restless," he answered, only lying a little about his current state of health. He still didn't feel very good, but telling his partner that he saw hungry yellow eyes every time he shut his eyes for more than a second wasn't really going to get him anywhere except a mental hospital.

"You still want to take that walk?" Seifer offered with a small upward quirk of one corner of his lips.

"Aren't you exhausted?" He returned warily, not wanting to take the other up on his offer if he was already tired.

"Nope, not really. We did just get done sleeping for something like twelve hours, and if you haven't noticed I can take a few hits and still manage to walk a few blocks. If I can do it with several gunshot wounds, I can do it fully healed."

"Then, yes, I'd really like to. I'm tired of being cooped up all day every day. Got a coat I could borrow?"

"Of course, I have a few hoodies too, if you'd prefer."

Slipping past him to reach into the closet and grab one of his shirts and a non-ripped jacket, he retreated for the moment to put them on, pale eyes piercing. Turning to avoid his gaze, Hayner grabbed the nearest hoodie he could see that had a zipper and put it on. It was dark red and had a black decal on the front that he couldn't be bothered to study. Considering Seifer was probably about twice his size it was pretty loose, but he was used to wearing clothes that were big for him because of Jack, so after a few minutes he doubted he'd even notice.

"You look good in my clothes," came the familiar smug voice from behind him, warm air ghosting against the back of his neck. Taking a breath, he moved to face the other, noting the way his partner's normally sharp eyes had softened just a little bit. Not knowing how to react, he tried to walk away, only to be pushed into the wall behind him. Predictably, the taller man leaned into his personal space, arm against the wall over Hayner's head. Something sparked in the small amount of air between them, and for a fleeting second he thought the other was honestly going to lean in and kiss him. The moment passed and with a maddening smirk the scarred detective stepped away and walked into the other room.

Letting his anger at being toyed with simmer, he began considering his next move as he followed his companion. Catching Seifer off guard wasn't exactly the easiest thing, but the other also seemed to think he could figure everyone out and predict their every move. Acting out of accord with his friend's perception of him would definitely throw him off balance enough to let his guard down. Now he just had to decide how best to do that.

They left Griever behind this time, the cat already asleep on the couch. They stayed together as they exited the building, walking toward the center of the city. It was odd knowing that there were quite literally monsters waiting in the darkness, and they were one of the few in the area who knew about it. From the way Tseng spoke of it, it probably wasn't even knowledge available to the public in areas where the Heartless were more common.

"Have you had any other dreams lately that haven't been recycled nightmares?"

"Why, do you need to report them back to Tseng as soon as possible?" He bit back, angry that Seifer was bringing it up already. Couldn't the Chief's fucking agenda wait a few hours?

"So you did hear all that. But no, that's not why I wanted you to tell me. I just need to be aware if there's anything else I should know about in the event it suddenly jumps out from behind the goddamn curtains today."

Even if he was pissed off, his partner's logic was sound. Of the two of them, the elder was best equipped to take down the dark monsters, and since they seemed to be infecting his nightmares it was likely the visions contained information about how to defend against the creatures.

"Honestly, it would be easier to show you. Can Ultima make us dream share at any time, or do we have to already be asleep?"

"Believe me, she can pull us under whenever she damn well pleases. Let's wait till we get back home to try that, I'd rather not be lying unconscious in the street tonight."

"Okay. Speaking of which, what if we're attacked when we're in that state? Will we wake up, or…"

"Summons are able to see and sense the world around their artifacts and masters. She would wake us up, and probably also smite whatever it was that was trying to attack us. Zodiark would do the same, and if none of them could be bothered, Ifrit is usually a little nicer to me."

"You said Ultima was a bitch, but…she's been nothing but kind to me since she junctioned. I would almost liken her to a mother. Is she just prone to favoritism, or is she trying to lure me into a false sense of security?"

"The former, if I had to guess. You're not a magic user, so there's really nothing in it for her if you like her or not, you can't summon her by yourself. I have no fucking clue why she junctioned with you in the first place. No one does. I guess you're just special."

"You can't summon her without being in contact with her artifact, can you? Even though you're still junctioned. How does that work?"

"I can summon Ifrit without an artifact because of my elemental affinity, I've actually summoned him five times since I've known how to, and that familiarity means I can pull him out whenever. He is, however, a fairly low-level summon. He's not the highest fire-type summon and not even close to being in the same class as Ultima and Zodiark. The summoning artifacts are really only intended to be used for the purposes of junctioning and amplifying the wearer's magic abilities enough that they can give the summons the power to manifest. As a High Adept I can carry enough mana to summon Ifrit without an amplifier, but even Cloud can't manage to keep enough mana in his body to summon the highest-tier of elementals without an artifact."

"So what would happen if I did manage to convince Ultima to manifest?"

Eyes like hard shards of ice pierced him, a silent threat in them, "You'd die. She'd drain your life force since you don't have any mana to speak of, and you would be dead before you hit the ground."

"Is there any way around that?"

"Yeah, if a high-level magic user channeled mana into an empty vessel with a high tolerance, like an elemental crystal, for long enough, it would make a sort of magic battery. A summon could draw off that instead. It would take Cloud, Zack, and myself several days to make one capable of supporting Ultima working together. I could see if they wanted to start on one if you think it's important."

"I don't want to keep bothering them, or you for that matter. I'm sure you all have much better shit to do than sit around focusing intently on a rock."

"I'll ask them then," the scarred detective answered, quirking a smile at the glare the other shot him, "But why do you think you'll end up needing to summon her? There's no reason we wouldn't be able to keep a few monsters at bay."

"Just a feeling, I guess."

"Are you always going to be this cryptic? You don't have to hide things from me."

"Force of habit. You'll get used to it, either that or get better at puzzling out what I'm really trying to say."

"You are so aggravating, you know that, right?"

"Yes, but it's part of my charm. You like a challenge, if I wasn't always so vague and indirect you'd lose interest."

"Ever consider that always making me force things out of you will cause me to give up?"

"Not really. You're like a wolf or a lion, you'll hunt just for the hell of it rather than just because you need to eat. You are quite content chasing after anything that continues to try and evade you just to prove that you can run it down or outsmart it."

He fell silent, telling Hayner his analysis had been completely correct and it had thrown the older man off balance. It did make him wonder if his companion actually recognized that the sandy-blond was not, in fact, the type of person who could be called prey. The scarred cop may just have to find out the hard way that he wasn't the only hunter in the relationship.

"Are you ever going to let me run you down then?"

"You're just going to have to keep trying until you succeed. I'm not going to hand you anything; you won't respect what you haven't earned. In fact I doubt you'd even accept it, you're too proud."

They had reached the heart of the commercial district, the skyline sprawling all around them and the lazy traffic passing by lighting the streets better than the lamps could. Particularly in the early morning hours the air in the city was charged, thieves, murderers, and the occasional vigilante running the alleys and rooftops. There was a dark beauty to the underbelly of Twilight Town, and Hayner viewed it as far more stunning than any of the sunsets the area was famous for.

"Where did you want to go from here?" Seifer asked.

"We could turn back. We've already traveled a few miles, probably best to take it easy for a while."

"That's not what I asked. I asked what you wanted to do, not what you thought was best for us."

Ignoring his assumption that what the brown-eyed teen wanted was not actually what was best for their health, he quirked a small smile, "I suppose we could continue walking. See how the city's fared since we've been gone."

Which was really just his way of saying they should see how many criminals they could disable before sunrise. It was likely the crime rate had gone up after the largest mafia family had been destroyed, all the low-level crooks had the run of the place with no one to threaten them into obedience. Of course, without anyone to lead them and teach them how to evade arrest, or have the bankroll to get them out if they did get taken in, they would all be easy prey. Especially for people as well trained as the Turks.

It didn't take much of traveling through the darker alleyways for them to find someone willing to entertain them for a while. Three men were leaning up against the wall, the smallest of them throwing a knife into the air and catching it idly. A greasy smirk slid onto his face when he spotted them.

"I think you found yourself on the wrong side of town fellas."

"No, actually I'm pretty sure we're exactly where we wanted to be," Seifer returned, teeth flashing in a wicked smile. Their eyes narrowed and they advanced on the pair, one pulling out another knife and the other grabbing a gun from his jacket.

"Well then, if you two have a death wish we'll just have to fulfill it for you," the smallest returned, clearly their leader.

The older detective slammed into the man with the gun, twisting his wrist deftly until it made an audible snap and the weapon clattered to the ground. Meanwhile his partner evaded a knife slash and kicked the owner in the groin, kneeing the man in the face as he bent over in pain. The leader shoved Hayner hard into the wall behind him, his silver blade flashing briefly as it caught the moonlight when he advanced. The blond man punched him solidly in the mouth just before he pressed the weapon against his throat, giving him pause enough for the detective to slip out of his range. A kick to the back of his knee and a blow to his temple brought him down and rendered him unconscious. When he turned to the other he saw that his companion had already knocked out his opponent.

"That was really just sad," the blue-eyed man commented as he divested them of their weapons, kicking them to the far end of the brick corridor.

"Agreed. What are you going to do with them now?"

"Have Zexion and Demyx pick them up, since they're out right now anyway. They're not going to tell anyone it was us, not that anyone would really give a shit that we do this kind of stuff off hours," he answered as he pulled out his phone and called them, quickly relaying their location before ending the call and slipping it back into his pocket.

As soon as the other detectives had taken the unconscious men into custody they continued on their way through the city. It was dangerous to keep picking fights with thugs, of course, but they were creatures of habit raised in a life of bloodshed. They both fought to prove they were still alive, that they hadn't been beaten into submission by the world around them like so many others.

It was uneventful for another half hour as they meandered, only a few stray cats crossing their paths. They were nearing the end of where Hayner wanted them to venture, considering how long the walk back was going to be. Suddenly his partner paused and held up a hand to halt his progress as well, bright eyes searching the dark corner ahead of them.

"There's a novice magic user about a third of a mile down the way, they'll be able to sense me soon enough as well. They're a water affinity, so it's really up in the air whether they'll fight or run. They don't typically like confrontation. Be careful, stay behind me for the time being."

"If things go south I am completely willing to kill them, you know that, right? I don't give a damn if we're off hours or they're a magic user."

"I would expect nothing less, but I doubt it will come to that. It shouldn't be too hard to take them down, they are just a novice after all."

There were several more twists in the path they followed before they were even close to the target Seifer had sensed. They turned a last corner and caught sight of the figure they were looking for, a person in a dark hoodie with the hood up, pale chin the only feature visible. They bolted down an adjacent alley as soon as they saw the two detectives, disappearing into the darkness. The pair followed the sound of splashing footsteps on the eternally soggy gravel roads. As their opponent reached a large three-way clearing a gunshot echoed through the confined space. The magic-user skidded back into cover nearer the two blonds, clinging close to the wall.

As they drew closer the person didn't even spare them a glance, clearly thinking the other threat was a far greater one. From the pitch and depth of their panting breaths the scarred man knew it was actually a female, most likely a teenager judging by their height and build. He advanced closer to the edge of the corner, wondering just who the fuck would immediately fire on a young girl.

"Hey, these aren't your run of the mill muggers, you should stay back unless you want to take a bullet," she whispered harshly, for some reason giving a shit about them enough to warn them despite being chased earlier.

"Nothing particularly unusual for us, stay here for the moment, Hayner," he returned simply, mumbling a couple of words to a spell before stepping into the open. His eyes narrowed as the sound of running bounced off the walls, uttering the last word as a compressed ball of fire shot out of his hand, shouts of pain signaling that it had made contact.

"They seem to be unarmed now," the larger blond said by way of explanation, waiting for his partner to come stand by his side. Hayner noted the rough look of the five assailants, many of them had visible scars and one had a battered Kevlar vest.

"Well fuck, if it isn't the Don's kid. You have any idea how high the price on your head is right now you little bastard? Thanks to you most of our clients are in jail, maybe the money from killing you will make up for it," the one with the vest said before pulling out a throwing knife and sending it his way.

It wasn't difficult at all to dodge, especially since his ever-vigilant friend grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of its path so he was standing behind the taller detective. The brown-eyed man pulled out his .45, it was clear these people were bounty hunters, the kind that were willing to off children, and there was no reason he shouldn't kill them if he had the chance, just as they had killed countless people before this. His companion had the same idea, withdrawing his weapons and taking a shot just as Hayner did, the younger's target falling from a bullet in the back as he ran, the apparent leader from a round to the head. It was clear that of the two, Seifer was far more pissed.

The girl remained where she was, cowering against the wall. Either she was too scared or too shocked by their actions to think of doing anything. The lithe man thought it was probably better that way; all she could really do would be get in their way. Two more shots and another fire spell downed the rest.

Gazing out finally, the hooded girl stared at the bodies for a moment before looking back to the two Turks, backing away slowly like she was considering running again. He couldn't really blame her if she did, they had just killed five people without even breaking a sweat or batting an eye.

"Were those guys after you?" The man with ice-colored eyes asked, watching her closely.

"Sort of. They're after any kid with magical abilities. Apparently someone wants us all captured or dead," she answered warily, ducking her head further into the hood and continuing to creep back.

"You're homeless," Hayner stated, recognizing the signs easily after having seen it so often.

"What's it to you? You're either cops or murderers, so you're either going to arrest me for running away or kill me," she spat, anger and fear showing in the set of her jaw.

"We're Turks, Miss, and no, we're not going to kill you or arrest you. If I had to guess, you didn't run away in the first place. Your parents were killed. That's why you don't have a bag or anything to carry your clothes, food or valuables, you don't have any because you ran when someone broke in and couldn't go back because you'd be sent to an orphanage if they found you. The reason you wear your hood up all the time isn't because you're cold, but you're worried someone will recognize you or see how young you are and try to take you in to the police. You've been wearing the same clothes for weeks, which is why they're so filthy. You don't know how to steal because you've never needed to so you haven't eaten much in that time either. You're hungry, scared, and alone, and have no idea where or how to get help," the shorter blond continued flatly.

There was a long pause filled only with the sound of them breathing and then she pulled off her hood, revealing black hair and blue eyes with dark rings below them, "Amanda. My name is Amanda. You're right, on everything. I've been running for fifteen days now. Some guys from the crime family on the east side of town broke in and killed my parents, or at least I think they're the culprits. I was on the second floor when I heard gunshots, so I grabbed my hoodie and jumped out the window. I don't know what happened to my older brother, but I assume he's dead too."

The sandy-blond nodded, "I know some people who can help you without you having to become a ward of the government, friends of mine. I can give you their number and enough money to afford a pay phone, or I can call them right now and have them pick you up. They've been homeless too, they won't hurt you."

She seemed to consider this for a moment, eyes sizing him up calculatingly. A few minutes of pregnant silence passed before she nodded, saying that she'd rather be picked up, so she could at least speak to them in person. It was clear she still didn't trust them, but at least she was willing to give them a chance.

"Seif, want to call Zexion to pick up the bodies?" He asked as he pulled his own phone out, scrolling through a list of contacts to find the one he was looking for. His partner did as he asked, stepping away to talk with their coworker and explain briefly what happened.

Pressing send and listening to three rings, the person on the other line finally picked up, "Hayner, it's good to know you were successful and despite your idiocy, are still alive."

"Thanks Namine, good to talk to you again too," he quipped back, "I have someone I think you could help out, mind coming to the intersection of Twilight and Rhodes?"

"Sure, Kairi and I will be there in about twenty minutes. See you soon Hayner, try to stay out of trouble till then."

"No promises, see you soon, Nam."

He hung up, his companion already at his back and waiting. They walked the alley out to the road, Amanda following at a careful distance. The need to take a drag off a cigarette was beginning to become impossible to overcome, he saw some of himself in the young mage behind him and it reminded him of things he'd rather just forget completely.

They waited a bit, an ambulance came by with the other pair of Turks and hauled off the bodies of the bounty hunters while they stood by the intersection to greet the twins when they arrived. It wasn't long before a nondescript car pulled up and the two exited, Kairi from the driver's side and Namine from the other. The blonde twin was wearing her typical white dress, while her counterpart had a pink shirt and jeans on. It was clear from their slightly mussed hair that they had just gotten up, which wasn't terribly surprising considering it was somewhere between three and four in the morning.

"Morning Hayner," they said in unison, walking over to give him a hug.

"Thanks for saving his stupid ass, Seifer," Kairi added, smiling at him.

"It was my pleasure," he returned, watching their young follower's face as she took in the twins.

"Kairi, Namine, this is Amanda. She could use someone to look after her for a while. I was hoping you two would be up to the task."

The blue-eyed sisters looked her over once, coming to the obvious conclusion that she didn't really have anywhere else to go. Namine smiled disarmingly and held out her hand, not close enough to be threatening to the younger girl. She'd have to take a step forward to take it.

"Hello Amanda, I'm Namine. Kairi is my sister. If you'll let us, we'd like to help you back on your feet. We won't ask much of you or hurt you, and you can leave at any time. You look hungry, if you'd like you can think it over some food? There are a few places still serving at this time, I know a place with good food that's open all day and all night."

Blue eyes regarded the offered hand for a moment before tentatively taking it, an uneasy smile flitting across her face. Hayner had no doubt that the twins would be able to charm the young woman into their care, especially Namine, being easily the most unassuming person he'd ever met. Danger always lurked under her smiling eyes, however, he supposed he could best liken her to a sugarcoated dagger.

They spent some time at a small diner nearby, the girls talking amongst themselves while his partner seemed to be trying to figure him out again. His piercing, calculating gaze had been focused on him for too long for it to be anything else. He met the look steadily for several minutes until the unusually peppy waitress came over to take their orders.

"Kairi, Namine, always good to see you two. We were worried about you, what with all of the things that have been happening recently. Who are the others, friends of yours?"

"Yes, this is our new friend, Amanda," Kairi began, nodding toward the girl across from him, "And the others are Seifer and Hayner."

"Hello Amanda, wonderful to meet you," she answered sweetly, smiling at the teenager. It seemed like she was used to dealing with orphans or kids who lived on the streets since she didn't even mention what a state the black-haired girl was in. The addressed gave her a small lopsided smile in return.

"Nice to meet you as well, Hayner, Seifer. Are you two involved, or siblings?" She asked, her eyes betraying no question that they must be one of the two options.

"We're nei-"

"Involved, they even live together. Aren't they cute?" The blonde said over him, bright eyes dancing with laughter as he gave her a disbelieving glare.

"Adorable," she agreed, "Now what can I get everyone tonight?"

They ordered, Hayner staring out the window to hide the fact that he was blushing furiously. Of course his partner was nothing but amused with the whole situation, he probably didn't give a shit what label people wanted to put on their relationship so long as everyone knew the younger man was Seifer's. He tried to muster annoyance with his roommate's rather excessive possessiveness but found for whatever reason that he couldn't. However, he could find plenty of irritation with Namine over causing the whole situation.

"Why the hell would you tell her that, Nam?" He asked once he was sure he wasn't some shade of pink over it.

"For one, no one but a Turk or someone who knows one would understand the bond between partners, and for another, if you are going to wake me up in the small hours of the morning I should at least be allowed to tease you."

He huffed indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest and retorting, "I'm sure you could have found some other way to do it."

"I dunno, I found it pretty amusing," the blue-eyed man piped up, smirk firmly in place.

"You would, asshole."

"What exactly do you do, as Turks? I know you're cops of some sort, but no one ever really talks about you guys, aside from the news," Amanda asked, either curious or trying to rescue Hayner from a losing battle with his other half.

"We're detectives, actually. We deal specifically with crimes involving known organized crime syndicates within the city. Hayner is actually responsible for putting Don Corneo and all his men in jail a week or so ago," the scarred blond answered her, eyes sliding over to regard his friend. He knew that she wouldn't have heard about it because she didn't really have access to a news station recently.

"And my partner here is the only reason I survived that operation, in more ways than one."

"You really managed that? How?" She pressed.

"That's classified, but I guess put simply it involved a lot of undercover work," the brown-eyed cop responded with a small smile.

"Well, I guess, thank you. Now just do that with all the other organizations and maybe the city will be safe for people again. Or you could just kill them. I'm all for that option."

"We'll do our best. The others shouldn't be as difficult to eradicate, considering most aren't even half as large. If we can take down the Don, we can destroy all of them, and they know it."

Their food arrived and they all fell silent as they ate. Dark eyes stared listlessly out the window for several minutes before the other man tapped him on the leg to get his attention.

"Everything alright, Hayner?"

"Perfectly fine. Just distracted," he said, not technically lying so much as leaving out the important parts. He was distracted by the pain in his chest, by the forming bruise on his back from where he was thrown into the wall earlier, by the craving to smoke, and by the way the man across from him had somehow managed to become his entire world without him noticing.

"Have you decided what you wanted to do, Amanda? No rush, just curious," Kairi prompted gently, ignoring the two men.

"Well, you don't seem like crazy serial killers, so I guess…I'll stay with you for a while, if that's okay. At least until I can figure something else out. Where do you live?"

"An apartment complex not far from here. We could be back there in ten minutes. Did you want to go now?"

"Sure, um, if that's okay," she added quietly.

"Sounds great, let's get going," the redhead nodded, turning to the two Turks, "Well you two, I guess we'll see you later. By the way, Hayner, thanks for having Tseng set us up with an apartment and funding until we could find jobs."

"You know I'd never let anything happen to you two, couldn't just leave you out on the streets. Have a good rest of the night, and it was nice to meet you Amanda, good luck."

He was probably overly short with them, but he wanted them to get back home and get their new charge set up, as well as hopefully getting some more sleep. As they left the blonde twin asked the waitress to put the bill on their tab, to which she nodded and bid them a safe night.

"Did you want to head home now, Hayner? I think it'd be best if we did. I don't want you wearing yourself out and I know your injury must be bothering you by now."

"Sure. I'm sure Griever is getting hungry right about now anyway. What do you feed him anyway, raw steaks?"

"Most of the time, though he'll eat dog or cat food too. Not particularly picky," the older man said as they left a tip on the table and exited the establishment.

"I still don't understand how you've made it this far without finding out your harmless pet is actually a vicious wild animal. What happens if you forget to feed him, does he start chewing on you?"

"I don't know, never forgotten to feed him. He's a little too big to forget. I'm sure in the event I did he'd just open the pantry and eat the cat food in there, he's a pretty clever cat."

"You strike me as more of a dog person, honestly. But then, your cat is a panther, and that's way more badass than any dog could hope to be."

"I like dogs too. I'm either way really. But because I'm gone so much, either at work or in the hospital, a dog was kind of out of the question. They need a lot of attention and care, whereas cats could generally give a fuck so long as you pet them when you're there and feed them regularly, or at least give them access to it when they please. Griever is very dog-like, but he doesn't have separation anxiety and isn't needy, so he's the ideal pet. Even if he is a blood-thirsty killer as you seem to think. You're definitely a cat person, so I don't really know what you have against him."

"I guess nothing, now that I am somewhat certain that he isn't going to kill me in my sleep. And yeah, I prefer cats. Not a huge fan of dogs, been bitten by them a few times and I never really liked them before that. At least when most cats attack you they do less damage and are easier to fend off."

"Makes sense. Not all dogs are bad though, just the ones owned by terrible people or idiots who don't understand how to train them."

"I know that, but they're still clumsy, slobbery, and clingy."

It was probably past four now, the moon was sinking low in the sky and would soon disappear behind the buildings. He wanted to get home soon, if only because he didn't want to worry his roommate. Maybe the recent outlet of violent energy would make his partner less prone to aggressive gestures for a few hours. He could only take so much teasing before he snapped.

"So, what are you going to do about Corneo's trial? I didn't mention it earlier because you didn't need to be bothered with it at the time, but the legal team wanted you to testify. You can refuse, if you'd like. Everyone would understand."

"I'll do it, if they think it will help. I'll need someone to brief me on what story the prosecution will be going with as to why I was there in the first place and what my position was. I have no reason to fear him, if he acts up they'll just silence him anyway. What could happen? Besides, you'll be there."

"Of course. All of the Turks will, and I bet some others you know will show up as well. It's kind of a high-profile case, bound to bring in a lot of people."

"Do you know if they want Zack to testify too?"

"Yeah, he'll be there. So Cloud will as well. Rufus too, if I had to guess, though I suppose you've never met him."

"No, I haven't, but I do know he'll do essentially anything Tseng asks of him. He's helped me out quite a bit so far, including giving Kairi and Namine an apartment and enough money to live on until they can become employed. So I have a high opinion of him. Beyond that, he's managed to stick with Tseng for however many years despite their positions and how little time they actually get to spend together, and I think that shows something of his moral character."

"Rufus is a manipulative bastard, but he is a politician so I suppose that's a given. Overall though, a decent guy, so long as you don't get in his way."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is he fond of the Turks, or does he resent them because they take up so much of his partner's time?"

"He's quite friendly toward us, actually. Sends lilies if one of us ends up in the hospital for more than a week. Also controls what Cloud does and doesn't get in trouble over, and keeps us all out of jail."

"I suppose that's good, the Turks are much more useful as officers of the law rather than prisoners of it. How does that saying go? Takes one to catch one? As far as I know, with a few notable exceptions, you've all been on the wrong side of the law at some point in your lives, especially in the area of magic crimes and vigilante actions."

"Which makes us perfect for the job of quietly killing a lot of bad people with magic. Actually, you are the only one of us with absolutely no magical abilities. Pence and Olette don't have much, but Olette is a novice white magic user and Pence can use a few green magic spells as well."

"So out of all the Turks I am the least useful in a fight? You're inspiring a lot of confidence in my ability to work well with you guys."

"Nah, that title belongs to Zexion and Demyx. Well, they're not useless, but neither of them particularly enjoy fighting or violence and tend to avoid it at all costs. Makes them very good at negotiating with criminals, being the only Turks who don't outright want to just knock them unconscious or kill them if they prove a problem. Kind of odd pair, those two. A water and wind affinity with an arcane and ice affinity. One is a flighty coward who hates confrontation and the other prefers to control things from the shadows."

"Zexion never struck me as the type to become romantically involved with anyone, much less someone as upbeat as Demyx. He's very…cold."

"Yeah, he is. Like a lot of us, his life hasn't exactly been rainbows and ponies. For whatever reason though, he finds solace in his partner. Far be it for any of us to judge him."

"I guess you're right. Are there any other affinity matches in the Turks?"

"A few first and second-tier matches, but none beyond that. Axel is a fire and water affinity, prone to explosive anger and deception, and Roxas is a wind and fire affinity, meaning he essentially feeds his own rage which is why he has the worst fucking temper. Their second-tier affinities are in complete opposition, which is in their best interest considering how violent they'd be together otherwise. Olette and Pence are second-tier matches, she's a thunder-light and he's a water-arcane."

"So if you and Roxas are a first-tier match, why the fuck don't you two get along?"

"Because what happens when you combine fire and wind, then add more fire? Secondary affinities affect people's personalities almost as much as the primary, and while typically the primary affinity pair is intended to amplify the abilities of both people, the secondary is supposed to balance them out somehow. When the secondary actually throws the balance further off, it compounds the amplification effect and makes the worst tendencies in both people begin to manifest. We destroy each other. At least we used to, before he had Axel to hold him back."

"Well hopefully you'll both manage to deal with one another, because I have a feeling we'll be working with them a lot. I don't have the patience to deal with you two when you're being assholes to each other," Hayner returned, more than a little irritated with the way the two of them acted as soon as they were around each other.

"I'll make an attempt to behave then, for you. If he could just stop picking fights with me every chance he gets it wouldn't be very hard. I could put up with him otherwise. We work together just fine when it's required to get the job done or stay alive, it's every other time that's the problem."

They fell silent for several minutes, about a third of the way home already. Something about what Amanda had said kept surfacing in his thoughts; she mentioned that there were other children who had been targets of the hunters, leading him to believe someone was trying to round up a large group of inexperienced young magic users. There were countless reasons someone could want to kidnap people who could be potentially turned into powerful weapons, and all of them were sinister. He'd have to look into it later.

They arrived back home and he crashed on his belly on the couch, unable to hide his shock as the other rolled him over long enough to unzip his hoodie, then tugged his shirt up his back.

"When did you get this bruise?"

"During the first fight. Guy threw me into the wall. Didn't think it was important enough to mention, barely notice it," he responded, regretting the last part the instant it left his mouth, he knew it would prompt Seifer to test just how much he didn't notice it. True to form, a hand ghosted over the discolored skin before applying just enough pressure to get him to wince, which admittedly wasn't very much.

"You are obnoxiously stubborn," he said quietly, whitish-green tendrils curling out of his hand to the injury for a moment before disappearing, the pain abating almost instantly.

"How did you even know about it?"

"I could sense your pain. Things bleed over junctions, emotions, pain, even memories, thoughts, and real-time sensations can be transferred over the bridge to another person junctioned to the same Esper. The bridge between us made by Ultima is particularly strong and we're in constant proximity, so there's a lot of unintentional transfer. I've been ignoring most of it and trying to limit what bleeds over to you. Not trying to hide anything, it's just unsettling for most people to be reminded on a daily basis that someone else's mind was pretty much hardwired to theirs."

"In other words, there's not much way for us to hide anything from each other," he began, considering it for a moment before continuing, "So if we wanted to, we could share some of what we're thinking or seeing with one another at any time?"

"Or feeling, yes. You've been unintentionally letting pretty much anything and everything strong enough to notice through to me. I know how much you value your privacy, so I've been deflecting it."

"You don't have to, I already share pretty much everything else with you, my thoughts are no different. I'm only private because I don't trust many people; I trust you so I don't have a problem with you having access to what I'm thinking and currently feeling, you've gotten pretty good at reading me anyway."

The other quirked a small smile at the show of trust, lifting his legs and sitting under them on the couch. He leaned his head back and watched him out of the corner of his eye, it was always unsettling how piercing they were. In the low light the silvery-blue orbs almost appeared to glow. The smirk that appeared on his face brought Hayner back from his thoughts long enough to realize he'd just been blatantly staring for the past several minutes.

"Which one of your parents did you get your eye color from?" The younger blond asked, curious.

"My mother. Hair color too. Got most of my physical features from her side of the family. Same height as she was as well, she was an inch taller than my father."

"She must have been beautiful," he commented before really considering whether it was a safe topic to pursue.

The other hummed in agreement, "A model, actually. She was doing a show in Radiant Garden when she was introduced to my dad by a mutual artist friend. He was a metallurgist, day job was rebuilding cars. They got married a few years after they first met. She quit her modeling career when she got pregnant for me, then went back to work as a public relations consultant, dad stayed home and took care of me while working out of his garage."

"Is that why you rebuilt your car rather than just buying one like everyone else?"

"Probably. Took me six years total to make it what it is now, drove something else for a while before I had finished it enough to bring it out of the garage. Still do all the work on it myself. He had actually just started work on it before he was murdered, guess I felt an obligation to finish it for him. Don't think it's turned out the way he planned, but I doubt he'd mind."

"I'm sure he'd be proud of you for managing to make something out of it," the brown-eyed man finished quietly, a little saddened he'd never get to meet Seifer's parents, that the other never really grew up with someone who had pride in him. From what he'd said of his adoptive guardians, they didn't seem like they were remotely involved in his life growing up beyond basic care. Which was really their loss, because they had a son they could be proud of if they actually gave a shit.

Griever chose this moment to slink into the room, pawing at his master's pant leg until he got up to feed the beast. Left alone for a moment, he searched for the thin thread of magic that kept their two minds linked. Receiving a rather startling shove from the Scion, he experienced a second of vertigo when he somehow managed to see from both his perspective and Seifer's. The scarred magic-user turned to look at him and he had the odd sensation of looking at himself and the person watching him at the same time. Both of their eyes glowed white.

"_You are unusually bold about exploring things you don't fully understand._

It took him a few beats to realize Seifer hadn't actually moved his mouth when he spoke, that he was speaking telepathically, or whatever the word for communication along junctions was. He assumed this must be how Cloud and Zack seemed to know what the other was thinking.

"_Well you never explain shit to me until after I've already done it, so that's pretty much your bad."_

He could sense the other was feeling some sort of intense fondness at his retort, as well as amusement. Vaguely he was aware he could reach out and access any memory or passing thought he wanted, his partner wasn't barring him from anything. The urge to know what his companion really felt and thought about him was difficult to overcome, a combination of respect for his privacy and knowing he'd probably be setting himself up for disappointment was all that stopped him.

"_You have no clue how to sever the temporary connection, do you?"_

"_How the fuck could I?"_

The other man sighed internally, the warm feeling still emanating from his mind, _"All magic is fueled by the will of those using it. If I want to start a fire, I command fire magic to ignite a fuel source. If I wish to put one out, I command the fire to cease. Applying that to a junction, if you want to stop sharing our minds, simply command the magic to cease the connection."_

It would be so easy for someone used to using magic for most of their lives to explain everything as if it were obvious. The link between their minds snapped shut as he tried to convince his Esper to give him a push back into his own head considering she got him in this mess in the first place.

"For someone with no knowledge or experience with junctions, you've got some damn impressive mental wards. It's a miracle even Ultima could get past them in the first place. I've honestly never met someone who had a mind closed as tightly as yours."

"Then why can you tell what I'm feeling or thinking through the bridge?"

"The mind goes through what is essentially a filing process during rest, where it decides what to keep from the day in the long term memory and what it's going to toss out. Your mental wards only protect your long term memories, temporary things like thoughts bleed through because they're not behind the walls. Oddly enough, you've managed to block off your more intense emotions as well. Essentially I can't access anything of yours that really matters."

"It's not intentional," he insisted, quietly relieved his counterpart couldn't just snatch up any random memory or emotion he wanted. Now was probably not the best time for Seifer to find out his new roommate and coworker may or may not be completely, desperately in love with him, especially since it was something Hayner himself had only come to terms with in the past couple hours.

"I assumed it wasn't, you would have no way of knowing how to put them up in the first place without knowing a hell of a lot about junctions. Your life experience and tendency toward deception have caused your subconscious to build shields. You could let me in though, if you wanted to," he added meaningfully, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I'll try, whenever we decide to do that again. I suppose being able to share sight would come in handy in the event we were separated or running covert operations," he answered, carefully avoiding actually committing himself to sharing every memory and emotion he had with his partner.

"What are you so afraid of?"

He glanced away, unable to respond. Heaving a sigh, he got up and left the living room, entering his room and letting Griever in after him before shutting the door. There was no privacy lock on the door, but if the scarred detective's respect for his space didn't stop him from entering, a lock sure as hell wouldn't. Removing the hoodie, his shirt, and his jeans, he slid under the covers of the bed and closed his eyes, intending to maybe get some sleep. Even though he'd slept quite a bit in the past several days, he was still weak enough to need more rest than normal. The large black cat curled up next to him, and he wrapped an arm around him, feeling vaguely like he was cuddling a giant stuffed animal. Shortly after, he fell into what he expected was a nightmare-plagued sleep.

* * *

><p>Rubbing his forehead with irritation, both at himself and his companion, Seifer sat on the couch for several minutes after the other disappeared into his room. He really shouldn't have pushed his friend, but the idea that Hayner was still trying to hide everything from him, even when sharing mindspace, was too much to deal with at that moment. Maybe just because he was so used to being able to gauge the emotions of other people who were junctioned to the same Espers and access relevant points in their memories. It left him off balance when he got essentially no feedback from the other person. In a way it pissed him off too, because if the younger detective didn't trust him with everything by now what the hell would he have to do to earn that trust?<p>

Ultima was, of course, also annoyed with him. It was exhausting having everyone pissed off at him all the time, but then again he sort of brought that on himself. Something about being an unrepentant self-righteous asshole. Scoffing at himself, he stood and walked out onto the balcony. The moon was sinking toward the inky water, silver reflection highlighting the crashing surf farther out. Needing to vent some frustration, he formed two hypercompressed balls, one of fire and the other of lightning, and threw them out over the water, letting them travel half a mile out before smashing them together. The resulting explosion of blueish-white flames and purple lightning shattered the peace of the night spectacularly.

Rather than being cheered by the breathtakingly passionate beauty of the two elements colliding, it saddened him a little further. As powerful and aesthetically pleasing as the two forces were, there wasn't much they could do but destroy. It never escaped him that his two main affinity elements were the most destructive and violent out of all of them. If he were to be honest he was often afraid of himself, of what he could do if pushed to the brink of what he could handle, whether emotionally, mentally or physically. He might not become angered as much as Roxas, but he could definitely cause far more damage in a shorter period of time.

Mulling over his vast array of imperfections that could eventually spell his or everyone else's downfall, he sat down on the cold cement, continuing to watch the water through the plexiglass railing that lined the balcony. Dimly he was aware at the edge of his consciousness that his partner was having a nightmare again, feeling terror and an empty sadness crash through their link. Just as he was about to stand and go wake him, he was pulled under by their shared Scion.

* * *

><p>Getting quite literally dumped into another person's nightmare was never a particularly enjoyable experience, and as he picked himself off the ground, he was immediately attacked by several of the Heartless shadows. Hyperion materialized in his hand and he used it to fend off the monsters attacking him before wondering at the impossibility of the object being here when he hadn't intentionally conjured it. A quick glance revealed Hayner fighting the creatures as well, a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. They both radiated light magic.<p>

The details of the dream blurred and occasionally the entire reality winked out of existence for half a second as he fought his way over to his partner. The stark differences from normal dreams and nightmares made it clear to him that whatever this was wasn't either of those. Grabbing Hayner and pulling him close against his chest, he summoned Ultima against the hordes, the dream suddenly flooded with massive columns of light that dissolved the shadows and left them on a barren battlefield. Sounds of distant fighting could still be heard, but the rest of the area was shadowed by thick fog.

"Hayner, hey," he said gently, shaking the other enough to bring him out of wherever his mind was at the moment. The smaller man blinked and actually looked at him for the first time since the dream share started.

"Sorry, did Ultima drag you in?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. Where are we, why were there so many Heartless and why do you suddenly know how to use a sword?"

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions, so don't bother. All I know is that these creatures keep invading my dreams, and they're almost always overtaking me. I guess now is as good a time as any to show you the others," he said, sounding defeated as the scene shifted.

The same thunderstorm from his own dream slammed lightning bolts into the ground around them as they fought off more of the Heartless, winged monsters filling the skies as well. He stopped in shock for a minute when he saw someone he recognized on the ground about five yards away from them being healed by a blood-soaked Namine. It was Squall, with shoulder-length hair stuck to his head and neck by sweat, mud and blood. Kairi was barreling her way through a group of small shadows that kept trying to get close to her sister as she knit the wound on the brunet's side closed. In the redhead's hand was a giant golden key with flowering vines wrapped around it, the weapon somehow managing to channel her magical abilities into it and amplify them so she could dispatch the monsters with ease.

The moment in time fell apart and was replaced with another, this one in the city. There were five Neoshadows, and they dragged another version of Hayner back as he tried to run from them. Holding the real one tight to his hip, he flinched as they tore the dream one apart and devoured his still-beating heart. He was pretty numb to violence, but that was completely fucking disturbing. Why the hell had his companion kept these from him for this long?

"That's all of them so far, I've had a nightmare involving the Heartless every time I've fallen asleep without a spell since we got here."

"They're not just nightmares."

He sighed, "I know, Seifer. That's why I know I shouldn't try to avoid them. I just wonder why me, I have no magical abilities or anything particularly special otherwise."

"Your…let's just keep calling them dreams," because actually saying what they really were out loud would sound fucking crazy, "Are far more frequent and vivid than the one I had. So it has nothing to do with being a magic user."

"So what, then? Tseng said other Turks were having dreams like these, guess we could ask them and see what they have in common. There's got to be some reason why the whole city isn't flipping their shit, not everyone is just going to write these off once they start talking to each other about them."

"We'll piece this together eventually. Maybe Ultima knows something, magical beings usually have a lot more knowledge of what's going on, or will go on, in the world around them. You're her favorite, if anyone could get answers out of her, you could."

He grimaced at the thought of possibly owing the Esper a favor, "I'll try, but I'm not going to promise anything. Also, I thought Cloud was her favorite?"

"Was, not anymore. I think you may be the only person in history to be treated with kindness by the Queen Bitch, that wasn't exactly an original nickname when I started calling her that."

"Fuck all of this. Can we just talk about something else?" He returned irritably, hating it when he didn't understand something, and essentially the whole conversation so far had been about shit he knew nothing about.

Seifer nodded and attempted to change the scenery, the dream world glitching and turning to a white nothingness before splintering. Confused, the elder detective kept his grip on his partner as they fell through the blip in space-time the Scion of Light created for their dreamshares. They finally hit the ground in a solid reality, the larger man on his back on the ground and Hayner on top of him. Naturally they couldn't land upright, of course not, that would be _ridiculous._

"I get the feeling that this wasn't what you intended," the sandy-blond said as he got off and offered him a hand up. Taking it, he groaned a little and rubbed his back where he fell on it. Whoever said dreams couldn't hurt was obviously stupid and uninformed.

"Not at all, no clue where we are," he said, looking around them at a barren desert, off in the distance he could see a large city he didn't recognize.

"I've never seen this place either. So if neither of us know where this is, we must be linked with someone else right now," the other stated, most likely grabbing the information from Seifer's thoughts.

"Well, now it's a party. How have you two been?" Zack called as he jumped down from a nearby rocky ledge, his boyfriend following.

"Not dead yet?" Hayner answered with a shrug, and thinking about it that was probably the best thing that could be said about things in the real world.

"That bad? Well, I guess it's good you have Ultima on your side now, kid. She adores you, so she'll try to keep you around," the black-haired man explained, characteristically upbeat.

"Have you been having dreams about-"

"Monsters that eat people's hearts attacking en masse? Yes, both of us have," Cloud cut the teen off, eyes dark, "I'm familiar with the Heartless, but I've never seen them in packs that large before, not even near the first areas invaded by them."

"There was a Neoshadow in Twilight Town tonight, Tseng seemed surprised they had progressed that far from wherever it was they started appearing at," Seifer added in, obviously trying to get their opinions on the matter since they were far more likely to be truthful about it.

"I'm going to take a guess and say it went after Hayner. I assumed they would, eventually. But Twilight is roughly one hundred miles from the location of the last Heartless sighting, and that was only a few weeks ago. They move at a rate of about ten miles a week, or so we've thought up until now. I've been doing some work for one of the researchers, since it's incredibly convenient to go after something that's going to come to me anyways," the spiky-haired blond continued.

"That, coupled with a bunch of people having similar dreams about them, means this is bigger than a few isolated creatures clawing at our doors," the pale-eyed detective concluded, the corner of his mouth turned down a bit in a thoughtful frown.

"A good friend of ours is a Cetra, in laymen's terms she's directly connected to the planet. She's been increasingly distraught over what she's been hearing when she speaks with it. So, yeah, I'd say you're right. Shitty thing is, unless we can find out where the Heartless are coming from, we can't do anything but kill or capture the ones we find and try to learn more about them. What's worse yet, every time they kill someone and steal their heart, another Heartless is made."

"Goddamn it, does _anyone_ have any good news anymore?" Hayner huffed, incredibly off-put by the endless onslaught of grim information he'd been getting lately.

"You can get free drinks at Tifa's bar whenever you want, and she won't kick you out or card you?" Zack said helpfully with a comical smile, obviously the one shining beacon of hope in an otherwise dark and oppressive world.

"Fantastic, I have a feeling I'll be needing something to drink in the next few weeks. A lot to drink, actually," he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Any idea why Ultima decided to pull us all together?" Seifer asked the other two.

"Not really, but then I don't pretend to ever have a clue what she's thinking," the blond mercenary said with a shrug.

"She wanted us to meet and talk about the Heartless, so we'd realize the gravity of the situation, Cloud taking it to the researchers and us using our resources as detectives to find out whom else has been having these nightmares and see if anyone has gotten more from them than we have," Hayner said matter-of-factly, eyes glowing faintly.

Looking a bit uneasy, they all nodded, glancing amongst each other. Zack said something about wanting to talk with Hayner about his plans for freeing the fighters and getting them rehabilitated, grabbing his hand and teleporting into the distance before he could respond.

"What has he said about the Queen Bitch? We know she's fond of him, because she won't stop reminding us of how less interesting we are, but other than that, has he mentioned anything about her you thought was odd?"

"He said she was nice to him, and from what thoughts of his I can actually read, she acts very much like a mother would to him. She'd do anything to protect him; she used me to cast Holy when the Neoshadow attacked him. I don't know why, and I'd be lying if I said I trusted that her intentions were completely good."

"Has he ever had his magical receptivity tested?"

"I would be incredibly shocked if he had. Why? Do you think it might be the reason she's so keen on him, and bothered to junction with someone who had no magical abilities?"

"It's definitely something to find out. Try tracing back his mother's family line before bringing it up, if there's no one with any hint of magic for ten generations it's pointless to test him, but if there is I'd ask him to get that done. That artifact he always wears has magicites of his top-tier elements channeled into it, and I assume whoever had the skill and magic to do that wasn't stupid. They must have had some reason."

"Vaan gave it to him; I assume you're familiar with him."

"Yes, I've bought quite a lot of artifacts from him since he's been running with Balthier and Fran. Definitely not stupid, as much as he would like everyone to believe that he is."

"I'll look into it, thanks for bringing it up, I hadn't really considered that. What made you think of it?"

"It's something only a Sorcerer could see, but he's started giving off a mana signature that's not his own. It's one of yours. The levels are so small even one of the detectors the ranking tests use wouldn't be able to pick it up, but I can see it. It could just be bleeding from the junction putting some of your mana into him, but in the event that it's not…I'm sure you understand, having a fairly high receptivity yourself, why it's important we know as soon as possible."

Nodding, and now with yet another thing to weigh on his mind, he looked back to his partner several hundred yards away. The fact that he already missed the teen's presence by his side was just absurd. He knew he'd eventually have to deal with his feelings for the smaller cop, but in the midst of incredibly depressing and frightening events was not really the best time to tell someone that you loved them. Or maybe it was. There was no way to be sure because no one had ever been in this situation before and therefore he had no precedent to go off of.

Cloud sighed and shook his head with a small smile, "Kids these days."

The enigmatic man had warped over to the others before he could ask him what he meant. Though Seifer doubted he would have told him anyway. Rolling his eyes at the way no one in the world seemed to want to be up front with him, he joined them.

* * *

><p>Waking up on the balcony, he realized it had to be somewhere around seven or eight in the morning, because the sun had already pulled away from the horizon. His first inclination was to go find Hayner, but then he remembered his companion had stormed off and slammed his door last night, so he supposed he should let the other come to him first. Trying to remember just what the hell he did with his time before he met the other man, he stood stiffly, muscles protesting after spending hours in the chill night air.<p>

Everything he could recall doing before meeting his roommate seemed completely pointless now that he had. He could go out for drinks, but it was seven-thirty three in the morning and the main reason he went drinking was to either forget something for a while or sleep with someone. Everything he had on his mind was important and immediately pertinent, and he had no desire to sleep with anyone other than his partner, so that threw drinking out the window. He could stay up all night reviewing cases even if he was on vacation, but then he'd miss the opportunity to sleep and wake up next to Hayner. He could go out and beat random criminals into submission like they had last night, but he knew the other would be furious if he found out Seifer had done something like that by himself. If Fuujin and Raijin weren't working he could hang out with them, but he knew he'd just end up sitting there and missing his counterpart.

So essentially he had nothing to spend his time doing unless the moody teen was with him. Scowling, he decided to take a shower and hope the brown-eyed blond would be done brooding and come back out of his room by the time he was done. Letting the warm water massage the ache out of his body, he just stopped thinking for a bit, trying to pick up on anything that was crossing his partner's mind. He knew the younger man was awake, had woken up shortly after he did. Almost instantly he could feel his friend recognize that he was trying to read his thoughts, slipping away for a moment before tapping the junction.

"_I'm not still mad, sorry about that, earlier_," he said, mental voice somewhat humble, as if he knew he had been ridiculous when he ran off.

"_Nothing to be sorry about, I shouldn't have said that_."

"_No, you were right. I am afraid of sharing my memories, my thoughts and feelings with you, even though you've never done anything to betray my trust. You deserve better, so I'm going to try to be more open with you_."

"_I appreciate it_," he returned honestly, knowing it couldn't be easy for a person who spent most of their life hiding the truth from people to let someone in.

"_Yeah, yeah, don't act like you're not terribly interested in learning about me without having to ask_."

"_You can block me out of whatever you're not comfortable with showing me yet, you know damn well I wouldn't force you to do anything unless it was for your own good_."

"_I know, I was just joking_," he backpedaled, sounding completely honest for once.

Getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist, he ran a hand through his hair to slick it back and walked out to head to his room. Pausing when he saw that his partner was on the couch, he headed that way instead, smirking. The sandy-blond man looked over at him as he approached, eyes immediately tracing the path of a water droplet down his chest. He blushed cutely.

"Gods Seifer, put some damn clothes on."

"Do you really want me to, or are you just saying that?" The scarred detective purred, leaning over the couch, above where Hayner was laying.

He stuttered a moment as his blush deepened before he bit back, "Yes, I really do want you to put some clothes on, because otherwise I am going to jump you in the next ten seconds and it will be all your fault."

"Well, I guess I'd better get dressed then, so when you do jump me you can't guilt trip me for it later," he returned with a predatory glance, turning around and disappearing into his room. He knew Hayner hated it when he left him hot and bothered, because everyone did, but that made it even more fun. Even he did want to do terrible things to the lithe blond, they were playing a game of chess; any offensive move would have to be made by his opponent first, not him, and he'd really prefer if it came on its own, rather than having to provoke the other into it. Besides, he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy toying with him.

Going back to sit on the couch where his roommate had made space for him, he shot the dark-eyed cop a small smile. He returned it, and they both knew they were okay again. Turning on the TV, he watched the news with the other for a while, seeing that the incident last night was already on the networks. Of course all they knew was that someone cast Holy in the middle of the night.

"Look, we made the news again. Is there actually any news happening when we're not burning shit down or using the most powerful white magic spell there is?" Hayner commented with a small smirk, clearly amused that their antics always seemed to make it to a television screen.

"Well, there are always cats up a tree that need rescuing, I'm sure those segments take a good half hour to cover. That must be what they cut to when we're not making a mess of the city. Maybe we could tell Griever to climb up a tree and see how that plays out. That could be interesting. Really, we should try to make a deal with one of the major news outlets, you know, for the good of the viewers at home who have lives so mundane they want to spend all night learning about others'."

"Because who wouldn't want to live vicariously through Seifer Almasy? I mean, if I had to get my rocks off following the life of someone else, you'd be the one I'd pick. But the only problem with that is, then we'd have even more women swooning after you."

"Why do you assume women swoon over me?" He queried, trying to think back to a single time that had happened when the other was around. He didn't think it had, because after meeting Hayner essentially all of his attention and charm had been directed at him.

Narrowing his eyes in a look of confusion, he answered, "Because who the fuck wouldn't? To everyone else you're the classic bad boy, angry, dark, violent, enigmatic. Combine that with your looks and that scar, and I'm willing to bet you've never had to go home by yourself unless you wanted to."

"Actually, before I went into the academy I used to hang out in a lot of gay clubs, just because I didn't want to buy my own drinks and I knew they wouldn't card me when I tried to go in," he remembered with a laugh.

"You're just terrible," Hayner responded, laughing along with him.

"How about you, did you only ever go to normal bars to get shitfaced, or did you frequent some of the clubs too?" He asked, knowing Roxas had said he slept around a bit when he was younger, so he probably had.

"Just one, because of the whole getting shot in the head if anyone saw me going to those kinds of places thing. Twice a week, random days, always got picked up by someone."

"Any crazy ex-boyfriends I need to worry about hunting you down or kidnapping you?"

"Only had one stable relationship before Jack, and that was when I was fifteen, ended a few months after I turned sixteen. Then I started drinking, smoking, and sleeping around. Suppose that wasn't the healthiest reaction to a break up, but I had other reasons as well."

"Who was that with? Not that I probably know them," he asked, simply curious.

"Yeah, you do, actually. I dated Roxas for about a year, then broke up with him when he met Axel, because I knew they'd be better for each other. You know, more compatible, less likely to die, less emotionally distraught."

He managed to recover from his shock quickly enough to nod dumbly, considering this new information. It would explain why he and Roxas were so much closer than Hayner was to his two other friends, even though they'd all known each other the same length of time. Though now he kind of wanted to punch Roxas in the face more than usual.

"Please don't murder him just because he dated me in the past, I haven't been attracted to him in years, we're different people now."

"Are you sure I can't murder him just a little?" He pleaded jokingly, trying his best to sound like a five year-old.

"Not even a little," he snapped back, smile ruining the effort of seeming annoyed. They laughed easily, content to just sit next to each other.

* * *

><p>The next week blurred together as they worked on separate projects in between spending time together, neither really understanding the meaning of the word 'vacation'. Seifer had started researching Hayner's mother's family line, after asking for her maiden name from his companion. Unfortunately, most of the children of the couples in her family had been women, making the search all that more difficult because their last names kept changing. In fact, from what he could tell, Hayner was the first male in her line since the late eighteen-hundreds. It was getting to the point where he was about to give up on the search when he came across an old newspaper clipping about Kieran Faulkner, arguably one of the greatest Sorcerers of that century. Who had fathered one of the women he was researching with a direct bloodline to Hayner's mother.<p>

"Oh for fuck's sake," he grumbled to himself.

Seven generations back the magic-bereft man was related to an incredibly powerful magic-user, and considering the genes for magic and magic receptivity were carried on the X chromosome, he had to have passed those genes onto his daughter. Of course all the girls in the family wouldn't show any sign of magic, because it was a recessive trait, unless they got another chromosome from the father with the genes for magic it wouldn't show up, which is why Sorceresses were both incredibly rare and powerful. There was a small chance the brown-eyed blond had ended up with a modified X passed down from Kieran where the gene for automatically accruing mana from the world around him had been destroyed or turned off for whatever reason, but not the one for magic receptivity.

Considering this new information, he decided to go to his partner first, before relaying it to Tseng. If his fellow Turk didn't want to be tested to determine his receptivity, then they wouldn't need to pursue this any further. He left his room and went to knock on the door to his roommate's bedroom, only to have it pulled open before he could.

"Heard you coming," he said by way of explanation, withdrawing into the space and going back to what he was working on, a giant map of the city pinned to the wall. There were several colored pins and circles on it, with a piece of yarn wrapped around the outside of the pins.

"I'm going to have to ask what the hell that's for," he said, ice-colored eyes roving over it as he walked closer.

"I've compiled all the most recent kidnappings of people between the ages of thirteen and eighteen with magical abilities, and mapped out where they lived in red or were last seen in blue if they were taken while not in their house, then I put pins in those spots and wrapped yarn around them. Amanda's brother is reported missing, so I counted him as well. I called Roxas, and he confirmed there is a known veil over an area roughly in the center of all the kidnappings, which I made a sketch of in orange.

"Considering in the past two weeks twelve kids, all magic-users, were kidnapped in this area, I'm willing to bet the person paying those bounty hunters to track them down is there, within the veil. The circle of kidnappings' radius is about half a mile, so I assume they either have access to a powerful magic user, or some pretty awesome equipment."

"Well, shit. Looks like you've done a good job of keeping yourself busy," he said, shocked at the amount of work the fledgling detective had done without being asked or given leads.

"You've been doing something too, so what's up?"

"Your great-great something or other was Kieran Faulkner, a very powerful Sorcerer. There's a minute possibility that you got some of his genes for magic, and Cloud seems to think you might be receptive to it, so I was kind of hoping you'd agree to get tested for magic receptivity. It's not a very time-consuming process, we could do it today if you'd like. I assume you want to report this," he waved at the map, "To Tseng anyway, and there's a research and testing center a block away from the station."

"So you think I might be able to pick up mana from artifacts on me or nearby and use it, even if I can't actually draw mana from the planet itself?"

"Yes, I do. If you have a high receptivity, you could have potentially already drawn some of the mana from the amalgam Vaan gave you, Ultima's summon gem, or even me into yourself, without knowing it."

"That seems like it could be dangerous, carrying around magic power without actually knowing that I have it or how to use it," he said, more a question than a statement, and receiving an affirmative from his friend, he continued, "Then yeah, I'll do it. I assume all they need is a blood sample or something like that?"

"No, actually all they're going to do is hand a strong magical battery to you and ask you to try and take some of its energy. Depending on much you sap, they'll know how receptive you are. No needles involved."

"That seems terribly unscientific."

"Well, they haven't found any better or faster way to test it, so that's how it goes I guess. Did you want to go now? Tseng's shift will be over in a couple hours, not that there's anything wrong with talking to Elena about this, but I know you're more familiar with him."

"Yeah, we can leave now if you want to. I'll just take a picture of the map and grab the file I made for all the kidnappings," he answered with a small smile, the one he often had when he was around his companion. Pulling out his phone, the one Seifer had gotten him, they got rid of the old one a bit ago because it was a bit too dangerous to carry around an electronic with mafia members and dealings on it, Hayner snapped a few pictures of it and grabbed a manila folder off his bed.

Ruffling his sandy-blond hair affectionately, Seifer led the way out the door, stopping by his room to grab his coat. It was four in the morning so it was still a bit too cold to go outside without one. Hayner had already picked up the hoodie he'd mended several days ago. Griever tried to trip them on their way out, obviously wanting to come along.

"No, Griever. You stay home and protect the house, understand?" His master said, and though his velvety ears drooped a little, he sat down obediently in the living room.

* * *

><p>The drive over to the research center didn't take long due to the lack of morning traffic, not that it ever took long with the way that the scarred man drove. They walked in and stopped at the front desk, one of the staff seeming to recognize Seifer.<p>

"Mister Almasy, what can we help you with today? Take in another criminal who used magic that you need us to run over and check?"

"No, actually, I'm on vacation. This is my partner, Hayner Smith, I'd like to have his magic receptivity tested, it's important."

The man nodded and greeted him, sticking his hand out to shake, "Alright, it'll take a few minutes and then we'll call you two back. Knowing you, you don't want any of this officially filed, right? Just sent over to your boss?"

"You got it," he agreed, pulling his friend over to the chairs next to the desk to sit down.

"I take it you come here quite often? Even though…"

"They run the tests for ranking? Yeah. I'm usually the one who ends up taking out all the guys with magic, so I have to come over here constantly to grab one of the testers and find out just how dangerous they are before they regain consciousness. Everyone knows me here, so they don't try anything like retesting me against my will, they know I'd deck them."

"So essentially everyone you work with other than the Turks is completely terrified of you?"

He thought about it for a moment, clearly trying to think of other occasions where people weren't frightened, "Well, yes. Most of the shields aren't until they see me in action, or until they piss me off, and most of them have done one or the other by this point."

"Not that the latter is particularly difficult," the smaller man muttered with a small smirk and a playful look.

"No, I suppose it isn't, you're the only one I put up with any shit from."

"Oh come on, don't act as if I put you through any more suffering than you do me. You're not the easiest person to deal with either sometimes."

"You're still here, aren't you? Alive after dealing with me nonstop for a month. Can't be that bad."

"Or maybe I'm just particularly hardy," he huffed back, crossing his arms over his chest in mock annoyance.

"Seifer, I see that you're being as obnoxious as usual," the lead researcher said as he walked toward them.

"Dr. Osmond, this is Hayner Smith, he's even more obnoxious than me," he quipped back with a rather devilish grin at his partner's glare.

"I quite seriously doubt that, but I guess there's no way to know anything until we test it, right? Follow me, I'll take you to the testing area."

He stayed a respectful distance from the older man, knowing people tended to get nervous when you were too close behind them. Of course Seifer was right on his heels, because there really wasn't a personal space boundary for the two of them. He was pretty sure he wouldn't react if the other just picked him up and carried him there, except to ask to be let down. They both entered the room he was talking about, with bulletproof windows on one side and otherwise made of thick metal with strategic stress relief points in the event of an explosion. Which really did nothing to make him less on edge.

"Is Seifer allowed to be in here during the test?"

The dark-haired researcher stared at him blankly for a moment, not comprehending the question, "You're a perfect affinity match, the two of you are never supposed to be apart once you meet. To separate you would be unnatural."

"Oh, right. Of course," he said, acting as if he just didn't think of that rather than not knowing that those with knowledge of magic apparently viewed them as a matched set rather than two individuals. Not that they were really wrong, he honestly couldn't think of a good reason why he wouldn't stay next to Seifer's side, unless his partner made him incredibly angry and he stormed off. He'd always come back.

"I'm going to hand you a magic artifact with a great deal of mana stored up in it. Receptivity means you can't draw raw mana directly from the source, but you can take it from artifacts or other people, which pre-processes it for you. It can gradually make people with magical abilities stronger than they would be without it, if they stick around artifacts long enough. I'd like you to take as much energy from this artifact as you can. It's wind-element, so it'll be the easiest one from you to draw from based on your affinity."

After finishing his explanation, he cautiously placed a crystal roughly the size of his palm into his hand, backing away. Ice-colored eyes watched him evenly, silently supportive of him. Concentrating and remembering everything his magically-inclined companion had told him, he willed the energy into his body through his hand. The object pulsed once, then quickly dimmed until it turned black, shattering. He could feel the energy settle uneasily in his chest, twisting about like it wanted to go somewhere.

"Is that…supposed to happen?" He asked the doctorate running the test carefully.

He looked up at the other two men in the room with him, judging by the funny looks they were giving him, it wasn't supposed to do that. Hopefully those crystals weren't too difficult to replace.

"You did everything right it's just…" He trailed off, looking confused, "You're really not supposed to be able to take everything from the crystal. There was enough energy in that battery to summon a low-tier spirit."

"So…uh, what the hell does that mean?"

"It means you're more receptive than a Sorcerer-class magic-user. Your ancestor was the same way, which is what made him so powerful. I'm willing to bet you could drain several of those," Seifer filled in for Dr. Osmond, eyes sharp and serious.

"Can we _not_ try?" He pleaded weakly, not really knowing how to deal with this or the magic that was settling in his body.

"There's no reason to add more fuel to the fire, since you don't have the genetic makeup to carry large amounts of mana naturally, it's best if we started small and worked our way up. Otherwise your body will reject the energy to prevent itself from being ripped apart by it, and that's pretty dangerous for anyone and anything around you."

Seriously considering just going home and pretending none of this had ever happened, he nodded, then looked back at the person in charge of the facility. He seemed to be scribbling some observations on a notepad he carried in his breast pocket, as if he had completely forgotten that they were here. Once finished, he looked back up at them.

"I would ask you to stick around so we could run more tests on your rather extraordinary ability, but you're Seifer's partner and I know he would never put up with us doing that or even attempting it, and I like my jaw exactly where it is at the moment. So, if you have any questions that he can't answer, just give us a call. We're open all times of the day and night, obviously."

"Um, thank you. Sorry I broke your crystal."

He waved dismissively, "We have a hundred others and can make more any time. Don't worry about it."

They left, Hayner feeling rather numb. Warmth flooded his mind through his junction with the other and Seifer pulled him into a tight hug, as if trying to keep him from getting swept away in a storm. Letting go after a few minutes, he smiled widely and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together and holding it as they finished the walk to the station. He expected the scarred cop to let go once they walked through the door, but he didn't, squeezing it reassuringly instead. One of the passing grunts made a nasty comment about them and he _mysteriously_ burst into flames a second later. They went out before he was seriously hurt, but his uniform and hair were singed.

"You must be new, Shield. We don't put up with that shit around here, so knock it off or I won't be so nice as to put out the fire next time."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He said, turning red in the face and stuttering a little as he picked himself up off the ground.

"His name is Seifer Almasy, and he far outranks you in position, skill, integrity, intelligence, training, and anything else that could possibly apply, so I suggest you take him seriously. If you continue provoking him I am likely to term anything that happens after an unfortunate accident," Elena said as she walked gracefully out of her office, blue eyes fierce.

"Uh, y-yes Ma'am," he said, apparently suddenly seeing the error of his ways as he scurried away.

"Detectives, is there any particular reason you came here? I can't imagine it was to light one of my new subordinates on fire," she asked, eyeing them calculatingly much like her partner did.

"Don't tell me you're pulling double duty, Elena?" The older man asked, seeming genuinely worried about her health.

"Yes, unfortunately. Things have been quite tumultuous lately, not only with the Corneo arrests, but other things as well. Tseng has pulled twenty-four hour shifts three days in a row now, I've been working on his projects to try and convince him to actually leave this morning. We're all getting worried."

"I can knock him out and drag him home if you'd like?"

She smiled, relieved for his humor, "If it comes to that, I may take you up on that offer. However, I do assume you had a goal in coming here?"

"Yeah, we have some things to discuss with either you or the Chief, they're of immediate relevance."

Nodding, the second-in-command of the station looked at the brown-eyed Turk, concerned that he hadn't said a single word, "Hayner, are you okay?"

"Not…really, Elena," he answered honestly, sighing.

"Do you mind if I sit in on your meeting with Tseng? It'll allow me to better handle whatever you need to talk about once he's gone and give him one less excuse to stick around."

"Of course, he really needs to take better care of himself. It's nothing that specifically requires his attention, just one of you two," Hayner agreed, knowing this was one of those moments when his counterpart wouldn't decide for him.

They followed her into Tseng's office, she didn't bother to knock. They'd been partners for years, even if they weren't romantically involved they knew each other well enough not to need to be polite. The Wutaian man looked up from where he'd been writing a report while talking on the phone, immediately ending the conversation he was having with the push of a button.

"Seifer, Hayner. Aren't you two on vacation? I am completely certain you're not supposed to be here for at least another week," he said, rubbing his temple, "So you must have an excellent reason for bothering me."

"Two things, Sir. One, Hayner's got a lead on a serial kidnapper taking kids with magical abilities, and two, his magical receptivity is off the charts," the elder of the pair explained shortly.

"You're going to have to elaborate on both those things, Hayner, if you wouldn't mind," he ordered, eyes showing vague interest.

"Twelve people capable of using magic between thirteen and eighteen years of age have been kidnapped off the street or from their homes in the past two weeks. Whoever is behind it hires bounty hunters to catch them, and either is or has a magic-user with the ability to sense smaller mana signatures from a long distance. I mapped out the places all the children were taken, and found a strong veil somewhere in the middle of the circle they created. I have reason to believe the kidnappers are there."

"Excellent job Hayner, though I think I may need to define the word vacation for you. I assume you're also going to want to continue to investigate this case?"

"Yes, I would. Along with Seifer, of course."

"And as far as your magic receptivity?"

He looked to his other half for assistance, still not really understanding what the hell had happened in the past hour. Seifer understood him immediately, of course, thumb stroking the back of his hand, which he just now realized he was still holding.

"Several generations back on his mother's side he's related to Kieran Faulkner, he managed to inherit his receptivity but not his innate magical abilities. He drained an entire battery at the center in less than a minute."

"You are continuing your habit of defying the odds quite effectively Hayner. Congratulations on your newfound abilities, though knowing you, you don't see them for the gift they are."

"I was perfectly fine with not being unique, not having the extra responsibility of controlling magic to contend with on top of everything else. Forgive me for not being thrilled."

"Hayner, you'd be unique even if you didn't have the ability to use magic," the blonde woman commented, tilting her head slightly to the side, "No one else has done for anything what you've done for this city."

He blinked, opening his mouth to say something, then shut it when he couldn't come up with a response. Something like pride filtered through his junction with his partner, but he was interrupted by Tseng speaking again before he could wonder at it.

"There is a rather major downside to receptivity without a propensity for traditional magic, as I'm sure Seifer has already mentioned in some way to you. You're a danger to yourself and others until you learn how to safely collect, contain, and release magical energy. I will expect you to return from your vacation with enough training to at least not pose a threat, if not actually be able to utilize what you have. If you can find time to learn in between all the other non-vacation type activities you're going to be doing," he deadpanned, the tiniest hint of amusement seeping through the annoyance in his eyes.

"You really have no room to tell us we're working when we're not supposed to be, you've been pulling double shifts most of the week from what I hear. Maybe you should go home before Rufus invests in some chloroform," Seifer snapped.

"Insubordination won't get you anywhere, detective, you know that."

"I'm not on the clock, so I'm just an ordinary civilian telling you to take care of yourself before you become completely unable to do your job properly and put all of your Turks at risk."

"He's right Tseng, you know as well as I do that this job requires complete faculties. Take a day off and get some sleep, I'm already working on all of your projects," Tseng's partner said sternly, eyes unyielding, "If you don't I'll have you declared mentally unfit for your job and force you to leave to rest. Don't think that I won't."

"I am entirely sure you would, Elena. I'll leave at the end of my shift today if you think that it would be necessary to do that. However, I would like to talk to Seifer alone for a moment. Perhaps you could show Hayner around the station until then, I assume he's never been anywhere but the Turks' offices."

"Of course, Sir," she said, opening the door and gesturing for the youngest Turk to follow her.

It took him a few extra seconds to will himself to let go of Seifer's hand, glancing back at him once before walking out the door and shutting it behind him.

* * *

><p>"You separate us too much, you know. We're partners, what's the point of telling me something if you're not going to say it to him? He overheard our last conversation, by the way," the blue-eyed man snapped, displeased that he had to leave Hayner alone even for a few minutes, especially with the way he was acting.<p>

"I gathered that when I saw you look at him after exiting. However, you may be everything to each other, but you're still two people, so I see nothing wrong with pulling one of you aside to speak with you. This is actually about Hayner."

"What do you mean, everything to each other?"

The raven-haired man just looked at him, "I'm not stupid or blind, Seifer. Neither is anyone else around you, it only seems as if you two are. Love, it appears, has a very debilitating effect on one's faculties. You have been inseparable since you first met, you have no problem with sharing the same living space or mind space, and you walk around holding hands and thinking nothing of it. Do you honestly think anyone could think you're not in love?"

"I really don't think-"

"You've made that perfectly clear so far, Detective. The reason I brought this up is because of Hayner's increasingly fragile mental state. Being constantly bombarded by situations he doesn't know how to deal with, coupled with his interrupted sleep, is already pushing him to the breaking point. Your aggressive way of pursuing him is going to make him snap if you don't cease until he can handle everything else."

"…Are you actually telling me to stop courting my partner?"

"Precisely. It would be quite unfortunate if you pushed him over the edge, especially considering how dangerous the backlash of that would be with his abilities. Right now it's much more important that you help him cope with his nightmares and his gift, and if I were to be so bold I'd say he'll come to you on his own."

"I never knew part of your job as Chief of Police was relationship counseling," he bit out, more than a little angry at having his personal life moderated.

"It's not, this is just ensuring that both of you come out alive, along with the rest of the city. If Hayner actually lost control of himself, you know how much damage he could do. Probably close to as much as you could. If both of you ended up emotionally distraught enough to react negatively, you'd level half the city before we could kill you. I think two-hundred-fifty-thousand people and all of the best detectives we have are much more important than your game."

Oh. Well, when he put it like that, maybe it made sense why Tseng was telling him to back off. Not that he wasn't still completely pissed at the man, but at least he could understand why he was forcing him away from Hayner.

"I don't think we'd kill the other Turks though, even if we did lose our shit, you'd only be losing the two of us. Not that you don't still have a point."

"I never thought you would, Seifer. If we had to kill Hayner and yourself, I am entirely certain every Turk would quit, myself included," the older man explained, dark eyes watching him with a cold seriousness.

Dumbfounded, he just nodded, got up, and left. There was nothing more that could be said between them. Easily finding his companion by the semi-circle of at least a dozen cops that were surrounding him, he made his way over, staying at the edges of the group for the moment. Hayner was gesturing to the map, where he'd placed several brightly-colored tacks.

"This is the rendezvous point for most of the weapons smugglers, and everything marked in blue is a cache point. In red are all the safe houses, which also double as storage facilities for drugs. These three black lines are the known smuggling routes for drugs, the ones on the northeast and southeast end of town are from Wutai and now supply the second two largest crime families, who together control the eastern side of the city. The third used to supply Corneo, but has now most likely been adopted by the smaller groups that hid in the corners of the west end that Corneo didn't control."

He was rather impressed with the young detective's ability to recall so many specific locations, especially considering how uninvolved he'd kept himself with his father's business. As uncomfortable with the attention as he clearly was, he seemed fairly happy to be able to help his fellows clean up the city. Pushing his way into the group, they parted around him and his partner's expression brightened considerably when he caught sight of him.

"So how long were you undercover, Detective Smith?" One of the cops asked, almost sounding intimidated.

"Just call me Hayner, please. To answer your question, too damn long."

"How did you prove your loyalty to the Don, that he let you have access to all this information, and show up at the pier where you arrested him?"

"I did some pretty terrible things, got rid of people in his way. Eventually he just stopped caring what I did or learned about the syndicate."

"I heard you saved a lot of the Turks from the mob, how did you manage to slip that past him?"

Deciding it was time to rescue his counterpart, he grabbed his arm and looked at the others, "As much as I'm sure he appreciates you becoming members of his fan club, Hayner needs to get home and continue work on a case, and I assume you have better things to do than fawn over him."

There was an assortment of grumbling and muttered words, but they let them through as he pulled Hayner back to side of the station he'd just come from. He needed to ask Elena something before they left, and she was back in her office after apparently giving up babysitting the youngest Turk when he was mobbed.

"Something else you needed, Seifer?" She asked, looking up from her desk when he opened the door and walked in.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering which Turks have reported strange dreams lately. I assume you know what I'm talking about."

"Yes, I understand you. So far, Roxas, Axel, Demyx, Zexion, Fuujin, Raijin, and of course yourselves. Guessing by your expression you already see a connection?"

"Cloud and Zack have been having the same dreams, as well as several people around the globe. The only thing all of us have in common is that everyone who has these dreams is junctioned to one or more elemental spirits."

"Pursue that in your off time, see if you can find out any more. If you need to question some of the civilians, feel free to claim you're on duty, you know we'll back you up. Tseng seems most interested in the content at this point, so finding similarities and differences would be helpful."

"Will do, Elena. Try to take care of yourself while covering for Tseng, we don't need both our leaders out of commission, especially not with what's been happening lately."

"Your concern is noted and appreciated, now go home you two," she ordered, a small smile taking the bite out of her words.

* * *

><p>It had been several days since the incident at the research center, and Hayner had gotten to the point in his training where he wasn't inadvertently stealing his partner's mana and he could actually work a few basic spells. For whatever reason Seifer had completely stopped teasing him or even showing remote interest in him. It was driving him up a wall wondering why, because he didn't think he'd done anything particularly wrong that would get the other to shy away from him. Attempts to bring it up brought no real answers and it was becoming increasingly frustrating. After getting used to sleeping next to his partner, having the other touch him casually on a constant basis, and being shoved against things by him, it was devastating to wake up alone and never have physical contact.<p>

Staring into one of the many supercharged crystals he'd gotten from the researchers from his position on the couch, he sighed and looked at the door to his roommate's bedroom. It was shut, as it often had been since they'd returned from the station. Seifer was continuing to look into the issue of the Heartless, and for some reason he preferred to do it alone now. A momentary prod at the other's mind told him the older blond had fallen asleep. Wandering into his room, he grabbed his hoodie and his guns, ignoring the look the panther gave him, almost like the cat knew he was doing something wrong.

If the scarred man thought he could completely ignore his partner, then he'd just have to do something to catch his attention. Casting a veil on himself, one of the few spells he'd managed to master so far, he walked out the door. It wouldn't be completely impossible for his other half to find him, since they were junctioned, but it would definitely take him an hour or more. It had recently rained, and his footsteps splashed on the sidewalk as he ran to the center of town, breath ghosting out of his mouth in the chill night air. By the time he'd crossed the miles to his destination his chest burned, he wasn't used to running quite so long a distance.

He could sense rage on the other side of the junction bridge, slamming the connection closed with a small laugh, knowing that Seifer had just discovered he'd gone missing. There'd be hell to pay if the furious Turk ever managed to find him, and he couldn't keep the smirk off his face at the idea. Even Ultima seemed incredibly entertained by his antics, no doubt she'd made it so that the larger blond couldn't track him easily through their junction bridge.

Continuing on his way to the opposite side of the city, he wondered if his little stunt would actually make his friend mad enough to punch him. Somehow he doubted it, though maybe fighting would actually do them some good. Casting another veil spell, somehow knowing the first was beginning to wear off, he drew a little more energy from the battery he'd taken with him.

About two hours later he'd stopped two robberies and a shooting and was seriously beginning to wonder if Seifer had just given up on finding him when he was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground in the alley he was walking through. Grunting as a heavy weight settled on top of him, pinning him to the ground, he was slightly relieved to see it was his partner, not someone who was actually going to murder him. His eyes quite literally glowed with anger, the magic coursing through him causing them to emit their own light.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Hayner?" He growled, hands pressing into the teen's shoulders painfully.

"Getting your goddamn attention, you asshole. Get off me, now. Or are you suddenly okay with touching me again?"

"You could have been fucking killed Hayner, the only reason I found you was because Ultima told me where you were. What the hell were you trying to prove?"

"I said, _get off me,"_ he spat, Seifer's refusal to listen to him only adding fuel to the anger he felt.

"Why, so you can fucking run off into the night again?"

"As if you'd actually give a shit. You stopped giving a damn about me when we left the station the last time, I didn't even think you'd come after me if I left."

"What the hell? Just because I stop coming onto you all the time, you think I've stopped caring?"

"No, it was when you stopped spending time with me other than to show me how to control myself, when you stopped sleeping next to me, and when you intentionally avoided touching me at all. Living with you is like living with a goddamn stranger, and I have no interest staying with you any longer if this is how it's going to be. I'd rather die on the fucking streets than continue feeling like this around you. Now get off me before I make you," he threatened, voice tinged red with barely contained fury.

"You wanna leave you'll have to kill me first, I'm not going to let you go."

Deciding the other had been told enough times, he threw enough pure energy at him to knock him off, rolling away and getting to his feet. Seifer swore and got up, hands clenched into fists.

"I don't want to hurt you, Hayner, but I will knock you out if you don't cut the crap and come back with me."

"You're going to have to do it with force, I can deflect your stupid sleep spell now, remember? Prove to me that you fucking care or I'll leave this city and you for good. Do something, Seifer."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Completely and totally fed up with the other's refusal to hear the words he was saying, he decided to say it in the only other way he knew how. Advancing on the taller blond, he shoved him against the wall of the alley and kissed him roughly. Their teeth clacked together and he tightened a fist in the front of Seifer's shirt to hold him there. The blue-eyed man didn't recover from the shock of their sudden liplock quickly enough to react before Hayner broke the contact. Stepping back, he took in the completely bewildered look of the elder detective, then turned and began walking away.

"I fucking love you, Seifer Almasy. If you don't feel the same way, there's no reason for me to stick around. Goodbye."

He could feel hot tears stream down his face but he didn't give a damn, because in that moment the sky opened up and the downpour was enough to hide that he was crying. The thunder that cracked through the sky was enough to drown out the spell the man with ice-colored eyes muttered, Hayner feeling the effects of the enchantment far too late to block it. As he was dragged into sleep he wondered what Seifer was going to do to him when he woke up, because there was no way in hell he'd come out unscathed after all that.

* * *

><p>Groaning as he regained consciousness, his head pounding, he was more than a little surprised to find himself in his companion's bed. Or rather, surprised to have his wrists tied to one of the metal rungs that formed the headboard by one of Seifer's belts. Tugging on it, the knot held. Judging by the dull ache in his shoulders, he'd been like this for at least an hour.<p>

"You're awake," his partner said as he walked into the room, for whatever reason missing his shirt.

"Why did you bring me back?" The brown-eyed man asked, suddenly aware he was wearing nothing but his boxers.

"I said I wasn't going to let you go, even if I had to knock you out to take you back."

"So what part of that equation involved you tethering me to your bed?"

"This part," he answered as he leaned down and kissed him, licking into his mouth as he climbed into the bed on top of him.

"_I love you too, Hayner," _Seifer's voice filtered through their junction, pale blue eyes focused on his.

The scarred blond broke the kiss and moved to bite him on the neck, hard. It was everything he could do not to moan, closing his eyes and taking a sharp breath. Obviously Seifer hadn't killed him yet because he wanted to _torture him._ And he was completely on board with that. Though if the intense cop was just leading him on, he would shoot his partner in the foot and leave.

"_Not leading you on, so please don't shoot me."_

He almost didn't catch the thought sent his way, because at the moment Seifer was kissing his way down his chest and abdomen, his intended destination easy to discern. Not being able to move his arms was becoming a bit of a problem, because it meant the man on top of him could do essentially whatever he pleased whenever he wished, and apparently he wanted to draw things out as much as possible. Which was incredibly erotic, but he'd also been waiting for this for quite a while and he wasn't sure he'd actually survive if this kept up.

Impossibly bright eyes flicked up to look at him from where their owner was licking his somewhat defined abs, a smirk settling on his face. Cutting straight to the chase, Seifer yanked his boxers down and swirled his tongue around his cock once before wrapping his lips around it. Random swear words tumbled from his mouth and his mind temporarily shut off completely as he was lost in the sensation of the incredibly attractive man sucking him off. Breathing erratically, he desperately wanted to bury his hands in the other's soft blond locks, silently cursing his captor for having the foresight to tie him up. Not that it wasn't outrageously hot that he had. He probably should have guessed someone as aggressively dominant as his partner was would be into at least mild bondage.

Feeling the beginnings of an orgasm, he mentally warned the other, getting no feedback other than a smug look. Of course he'd be a swallower, because there was literally nothing about him that wasn't ridiculously sexy. His orgasm tore through him and he moaned, eyes rolling back into his head. Panting, he waited until he could actually see again to try and think.

"_You have no idea how hot you are when you come,"_ the larger blond said, licking the last of the white substance off the corner of his mouth where it had dribbled out.

"_Stop thinking, take your pants off and fuck me, or so help me I'll do…something terrible to you,"_ he threatened, not really at his best at the moment, but he thought he got his point across effectively enough.

Not needing to be told twice, he leaned up to open the top drawer of his nightstand, grabbing out a condom and a bottle of lube. Completely removing the smaller man's boxers, he stripped off his own bottoms before moving to kiss Hayner again as he pushed the teen's legs up and let him wrap them around his lower back. He tensed a little as Seifer slipped a finger into him, but relaxed quickly enough. By the time the older Turk had three fingers into him he had what he could imagine were truly spectacular bite marks and hickeys on his neck and shoulders and the leather belt keeping his arms immobile was biting into his wrists almost painfully.

Luckily the other didn't need to be told when he was ready, because at this point all hope of coherent words or thoughts had successfully made it out the window. Choking on a moan as Seifer pushed into him, he was startled to find he could sense the other's pleasure through the junction. Taking a few deep breaths, he sent the other a thought that was hopefully somewhere along the lines of 'move or I'm going to kill you' but was probably more like a jumbled mess of syllables. Either way the man on top of him got the hint and pulled out before moving back in, finding an easy rhythm as their heartbeats and minds synced. Every time he hit Hayner's prostate they both moaned, and distantly the sandy-blond knew that his partner wouldn't last much longer while being flooded with both his own and the other's sensations. He really should have mentioned that being junctioned would let them have the best sex ever, it would have been a fantastic selling point.

Random images and feelings flashed through his mind, belatedly his lust-deadened mind caught on that his partner was showing him every moment where he fell a little more in love with him. Pushing him up with his legs and kissing him deeply was the only response he could give, at the moment he couldn't articulate himself well enough to do the same, and he had the feeling he'd just be playing back the events of the last month to the man who was by his side through it. He yelped as the larger man thrust particularly hard at that thought, vision flashing white. Clearly enjoying his reaction, Seifer continued in that fashion, his strokes remaining ceaselessly rhythmic, eyes boring into him.

A dozen thrusts later he could feel his lover's orgasm as it slammed into him, the blue-eyed man biting down on his shoulder as they groaned, grunting several times as his cock twitched inside the lithe blond beneath him. Beads of sweat dripped off Seifer's neck and broad shoulders as he breathed heavily above him, eyes closed and face flushed. Gasping as he pulled out, Hayner absently noticed that he'd managed to rub his wrists raw trying to fight his way out of the hold of the belt around them. The other threw the used condom into the trashcan nearby and pulled his boxers back on before reaching up and undoing the bonds.

Breathing a sigh of relief at finally being able to bring his arms down from above his head, he rubbed his shoulders before rummaging around for his own underwear. Satisfied that he was covered enough to be comfortable sleeping, he looked at Seifer, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"So are you just going to sit there and stare at me, or come over here and sleep with me? Because I'll be damned if I'm sleeping alone one more night, I will still fucking leave your ass if you try that."

He really wouldn't, and the scarred blond knew it. Smiling, he laid down next to Hayner and pulled him over so the shorter detective could lay his head on his chest. Seifer nuzzled his neck a little where the worst of the marks he'd left were, obviously appreciating his handiwork.

"And here I thought I had to take you out to dinner first."

"Yeah, well, I guess I can let it slide that you didn't. You are a complete asshole for ignoring me for days though. I'm still mad about that, you'd better make it up to me."

"Oh, trust me, I will," he purred, eyes positively hungry as they looked at him. He was assaulted with mental images of all the ways in which the other planned to make it up to him, and he blushed.

"So can I introduce you as my boyfriend from now on, or…?" Hayner asked, still a little iffy on what the hell the ground rules of this relationship were.

"Of course, what the hell else would I be? I love you, Hayner, and I didn't say that just so I could have sex with you."

Warmed by the other's words, he pulled himself a little closer to his boyfriend and let himself be lulled into sleep by the strong heartbeat somewhere near his ear. He knew he'd likely have nightmares again, but at the moment he could care less, because he could count on his knight to show up and save him when they got to be too much.

* * *

><p>This chapter was considerably more difficult to write than those in the past, which is the primary reason it took me so long to do so. I apologize for the delay, and hope that the content has made up for the wait. It actually ended up being quite a bit longer than any of the previous chapters as there was a lot of ground to cover. Big thanks to all my reviewers, as usual, and a special shoutout to my secondary beta aliceupsidedown and the loyal reviewer TigerLilith. I have already begun <strong>chapter 7<strong> and will hopefully have it up in a month or so. The fic isn't over guys, and you may want to locate your seatbelts for the next story arc. See you soon~


	7. Untold Strength

A/N 1: Chapter begins and ends with citrus. This is also completely unbeta'd. Side note: I've decided that Papa Roach's No Matter What is the official themesong for this fic. Listen to it if you get the chance.

* * *

><p>Nuzzling the neck of his boyfriend, he waited for Hayner to wake up, glancing at the clock and wondering how the fuck he'd managed to sleep past noon. He'd cast sleep on him when the smaller man had several consecutive nightmares. Given the opportunity, he decided to study his partner, who was always so guarded unless he was asleep. It was curious, how even asleep it was a struggle to see him as the age he really was. He looked young, yes, but definitely not as young as his biological age, the scars prevented that. Convenient considering he'd been made legally two years older and it would be really tiring to keep explaining that he just looked young for his age all the time.<p>

There were a lot more scars on his body than Seifer had realized, most of them faint or covered by his clothing. The worst by far were on his torso, aside from the several marks around his heart, there were close to two dozen thin lines dotting his abdomen and back from knife wounds, as well as a few circular scars created by gunshot wounds. Hand ghosting over each one he could see, Hayner's skin tensed each time he made contact with it. Eventually he started stirring, batting his lover's hands away as he finally came to.

"Quit it Seifer, the hell are you feeling me up in my sleep for? At least let me be awake when you molest me so I can enjoy it," he grumbled, blinking his large brown eyes sleepily.

"Are you awake now?" The scarred man purred.

"I'd think that was pretty clear-" the rest of his sentence ended in a hiss as the older blond bit into his neck, instantly on top of him and pressing his body into the soft mattress.

"I do believe I have some bad behavior to make up for?" He asked in a smooth, low voice, pupils dilating seductively.

Not waiting for a response he knew wasn't going to come judging by the jumbled nonsense he was getting across their junction, he slid his tongue along the outer ridge of Hayner's ear. There was something unique about being able to sense his partner's reactions, it made it even easier to tell what the brown-eyed teen did and didn't like.

"You are going to drive me mad, you know that, right?" The man below him said, ending with an exhale of warm air that he hadn't quite let develop into a moan.

"That is entirely the point."

Letting his tongue rove over the younger detective's chest, he reached down the front of Hayner's boxers to grasp his already hardened cock, loving the way he gasped for breath. Stroking the length gently, he smirked when his partner wound his hand into pale blond hair and yanked impatiently. Sucking on his index and middle finger for a moment before pressing them into the man below him, he watched as Hayner's eyes slammed shut and a small moan slipped past his lips. Twisting his fingers, he hit the bundle of nerves that caused the smaller detective to shudder involuntarily.

Taking Hayner's dick into his mouth, he sucked gently while watching the other, something he knew drove his brown-eyed partner nuts. The hand in his hair tugged again, he supposed it was a signal to get a little rougher. Licking his way up the shaft teasingly, he paused and then swallowed the length to the base briefly before coming back up, enjoying the way it coaxed a low moan from his lover. Repeating this several times and continuing to rub the other's prostate, he could sense the exact moment when Hayner stopped being capable of thought and neared his orgasm. Swirling his tongue around the head one last time as the shaft stiffened, he swallowed the salty fluid that came out in short bursts as the cock in his mouth twitched.

"You…are a bastard, and I love you," the sandy-blond detective said as Seifer pulled his fingers out of him.

"I love you too, Hayner," he returned, leaning up to kiss him and trying to ignore his raging hard on, "I'm going to go take a shower, alright? Need anything while I'm up?"

Hayner shook his head and his counterpart left the room, stopping to wash his hands before starting the shower. A very, very cold shower. He could have made love to his boyfriend again, certainly, but the whole point was to try and make up for his admittedly terrible behavior earlier in the week, not get himself off. Although somehow he doubted he'd be able to resist for much longer, he had a lot of pent up sexual frustration to vent. Maybe he should just shaft all their other projects and tie his partner to the bed for the week or so of vacation they had left. Now there was an idea.

Getting out of the shower and drying himself off, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked back into the room, finding the other much as he'd left him, if his boxers were back on. He laid down next to his boyfriend and they dozed together, eventually dragging themselves out of bed a few hours later. Seifer set about making breakfast while his companion showered, Griever sitting patiently at the door to the bathroom. At least the panther knew when he wasn't wanted, having left them alone all last night.

Coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around the older man's chest, Hayner planted kisses on his partner's neck before mumbling, "Do you mind if we help Zack with the arena today? I told him we'd try to get that taken care of as soon as possible."

"Yeah, sure. So long as it doesn't involve getting shot at. Who's been taking care of them so far? I thought everyone was already arrested that was involved with the mob."

"Friends of mine, Xigbar and Larxene. They used to be in the mob, they're now mercenaries. I contacted them and offered them a large sum to keep the fighters fed and healthy until we could figure out what to do with them. You've technically already met both of them. You know those two people who shot at us during the dinner with the Don? That was them. Larx does her best to appear like a guy for jobs that require their identities to be kept a secret," the brown-eyed cop explained as he walked over to the table and sat down so he could pet their cat.

"So, wait, you paid them to shoot you and no one else that night? To what end?"

"News travels fast in the mob, and as you may have noticed, Luxord knew I'd been shot that night within the week. Since no one else was injured, it would look like I was their main target and that would immediately take the suspicion off me, because who the fuck would pay people to shoot them? Therefore the claim that all the evidence thefts were from rival factions would carry weight until I got them to the pier and told them the truth."

"You're quite cunning. Though using yourself as a pawn in your own schemes is foolish, I hope you realize that now."

"Of course, I don't really need to be as strategic as I was then. I'm not undercover, so there's not much reason to be."

"So what exactly is Zack planning on doing with a bunch of well-trained fighters with post-traumatic stress disorder? Hate to say it, but we can't just turn them loose on the world without some major rehabilitation."

"He didn't say much, except that Tseng had found a good place for them until they could be reintroduced to society. Basically all we have to do is safely transport them there, and there are too many of them for Cloud and Zack to do it by themselves."

"What time did you want to do this?" He asked, not quite satisfied with the incredibly vague explanation, but trusting his boss to know what he was doing.

"I was hoping to get going as soon as we're done with breakfast. It's not really fair to them to leave them where they are for much longer without a good reason, you know? This is the day Zack said worked best for all parties involved."

"So long as you're up to it, I'm fine with that."

They ate their breakfast and traveled to the arena in companionable silence, mostly because they didn't actually need to speak to convey their thoughts and feelings. It was actually quite surprising how often Hayner thought about him, he was pretty much on the other's mind constantly, and not because they shared mindspace. Not that Seifer was any different in that respect, but it was nice to know he wasn't the only one constantly preoccupied with his partner.

Descending into the dark underbelly of the building, they were immediately greeted by Cloud, Zack, and two people he didn't know whom he guessed must be the friends his boyfriend was talking about. One was a man with several scars, grey hair, and an eye patch, the other a woman in her late twenties with oddly-styled blond hair, green eyes, and a noticeable amount of magical ability. Larxene immediately advanced on the brown-eyed man, trapping him in a hug. Seifer felt a pang of jealousy at another person touching what was his, but he batted it down.

"It's been a long time since I actually got to talk to you, Hayner. Your mom would be so proud that you finally took the Don down, and you even became a detective," she said first, then stepped away from him and leveled a vicious glare at the other cop before entering his personal space in the most intimidating way a person half a foot shorter than him could, "And you, I swear to the gods if you don't treat him right, I will make you wish for the relief of death. Understood?"

Electricity arced between the two long strands of hair that stuck upwards from her forehead, and he could honestly say she probably would go through with her threat. Not the kind of person he wanted to piss off.

"Come on Larx, don't threaten to do terrible things to my boyfriend. Only I'm allowed to do that," the sandy-blond Turk joked, the woman visibly relaxing but still the promise of vast bodily harm danced in her eyes.

"Cloud, Zack, how have you two been since we last saw you?" Seifer asked, trying to include them in the conversation.

"Just fine, relieved you two finally got together. Ultima was getting tired of waiting and she has the patience of an immortal being. The rest of us were about to drive our heads into a wall," the spiky-haired blond responded, his tone making it hard to discern whether he was actually joking or not. The probability of Cloud Strife making a joke was so astronomically low that the scarred detective had to guess he was dead serious.

"We should be able to walk to our destination, it's about ten blocks away. Tseng described it as an underground factory, and in his typical fashion didn't go any further. I guess we'll just find out when we get there. I assume most of them will be well-behaved because if they're not on friendly terms with me, they're afraid of me," Zack said, normally cheery face becoming serious.

They went about opening the cells one at a time, each fighter debriefed on what was happening and falling in line with them. A few glared at Hayner, prompting his partner to edge even closer to him in the event they tried to take revenge on him for their mistreatment by the mob. Misguided or not, he'd kill anyone who got close enough to try, and it seemed in this he and the blond woman beside them were of a mind. It was only on the second to last fighter that they had an issue, the man immediately advancing on the brown-eyed blond. Of course, he found himself with two guns pointed at his head, a small throwing knife at his throat, and a hand on each of his arms.

"I assure you that none of us will hesitate to kill you if you take another step toward Hayner. He's not your enemy, he's the only reason I'm free and that we're here to help get you out. You should be thanking him, not trying to strangle him," The black-haired man explained, eyes narrowed dangerously.

The long-imprisoned man remained silent, still glowering at the youngest of them, but it seemed for the moment as if he valued his life over pointless violence. They were able to safely traverse the streets to the place the two spiky-haired mercenaries were told about, entering the building and descending into darkness single-file down a stairway to the left of the entrance. Once on the bottom floor, they approached a heavy black door, most likely several inches thick. It swung inward to reveal a woman in her mid-twenties with short hair of indiscernible color, a red bandanna covering half her face, and a deep scar that started above her eye and went down, interrupting the line of her eye and mouth. She was wearing nothing but urban camo cargo shorts, a white tank top, combat boots and a pair of dog tags.

"You must be the ones Tseng said would be coming today. Follow me, and whoever is last gets the fun job of shoving the door closed. Save your questions until we get to the barracks, I'll explain basic shit there," she said shortly, her voice slightly hoarse, as if from several days of yelling.

Following behind her into another room, the older detective couldn't help but look around them at molten metal being poured into molds by men in sweat-soaked army fatigues, creatures he recognized as Moogles flitting about at random. The woman leading them grabbed one such military personnel by the back of his shirt and shoved him roughly out of their way, shouting something at him that was lost over the din of smoldering steel and hammers. He didn't react much, apparently used to her callous treatment. The next room was much colder and quieter than the first, the Moogles working on crafting weapons ranging from a scythe, to a chakram, to a giant key, and just about everything in between. Traveling through a wide corridor lined with doors to darkened rooms, he was just starting to wonder how fucking big the basement of the warehouse was before they stopped at a set of large double-doors and walked in.

There was a decently sized mess hall, and on each side were wings that contained military-style barracks. It was well-lit, plants lining the walls and small decorations such as pictures and paintings covering the painted concrete. Overall it was about as welcoming as a place like this could be. The woman who was apparently in charge of the operation leaned up against a table and observed them, clearly waiting for them all to cease their looking around and pay attention before speaking.

"As you've already figured out, this isn't exactly a typical weapons manufacturing facility. You gentlemen, so long as you're willing, will work here with me and the boys to make weapons that will ultimately decide the fate of the world and everyone in it. If anyone wants to opt out, you may leave at any time. There are no schedules and no boundaries, and you will be compensated for your work here. If you would like accommodations above ground you are welcome to find a place, we will cover your rent. The rest of our human workers are in the army, but I assure you none of them are stupid enough to start shit with me around, so don't worry about that either. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why the hell do these guys listen to a girl, and why should we?" One of the arena combatants asked, drawing sniggers and glares from his peers.

"'Cause if you don't I'll lay you on your ass, same for them. Wanna try me?"

He walked up to her, and she gestured for him to go ahead. The brown-haired man swung a fist at her jaw, and immediately upon impact his head swung to the side and he found himself on the floor. A closer look at the mana surrounding her revealed she had some sort of charm that had the effect of reversing damage back onto the assaulter. It wouldn't work on everything, but it was more than capable of dealing with punches from cocky assholes.

"Anyone else want to punch themselves in the face? I assure you it is endlessly entertaining to me. No? Any other questions then?"

"What exactly are these weapons being used for? I saw molds for bullets, and then all those other weapons those things were messing with."

"That's on a strictly need-to-know basis, and only I need to know that. This place was commissioned by the Alliance of Cities, if that answers your question at all. Those 'things' as you called them are Moogles, and they are quite friendly and completely harmless. Anyone else?"

They remained silent this time, some shifting from foot to foot impatiently. Clapping her hands together with finality, she told them to go do whatever they wanted for the moment, and asked to see the four mercenaries and two detectives in her office. Leading them to one of the many completely nondescript doors in the corridor, she opened it and walked in, promptly sitting down roughly in an office chair and throwing her feet up on the messy desk. Surrounding the room were several towering columns of boxes and the single light fixture in the room wasn't really enough to brighten the space to the point of being comfortable.

"I assume all of you know about the Heartless, correct?" She asked, looking at them questioningly before continuing, "Then I guess most of you have realized by now the nature of this operation."

"You're preparing for war," Cloud answered simply, arms crossed over his chest.

"Precisely. I don't know a lot of the particulars, but the scientists researching the issue think that the ones we've seen so far are merely a scouting force intended to map out the locations of each of the cities, so they can infest them one by one efficiently. In other words, we're preparing to get swarmed by hundreds of thousands of these things, and we have no idea when or where they're going to strike first. With luck the Alliance will be prepared well enough to keep the casualties to the lower tens of thousands, but I'm sure we're all familiar with how luck tends to disappear when you need it."

Seifer's stomach went cold when she said the expected casualties, because that sure as fuck wasn't his idea of lucky. That was the entire population of some of the towns on the continent. He noted everyone else in the room grow similarly pale, expressions shifting darkly. The way she spoke so flippantly of that many deaths told him she'd seen projections that numbered far higher, that that was truly the best case scenario. She glanced up at the light as it flickered, and he noticed something odd about her eye. It was brown, so he didn't notice before, but her pupil didn't dilate in reaction to light.

"You're blind," he stated, curious as to how she was able to move around so well in a dynamic environment such as this.

"Congratulations on being competent after all, detective, most people don't notice. I'm not exactly a stranger to the Heartless myself, that's how I got this job, which I'm sure you were all wondering about. A year ago they overran a village near the southern coast that I lived in; there weren't a lot of survivors. What no dipshit in a white coat is going to admit to anyone is that the monsters have been doing this since then, raiding small settlements and turning their populations into more Heartless, growing their ranks. Based just on the civilians turned into monsters in the past year, there are at least fifty-thousand Heartless. The smaller cities and towns are so separated from each other and everyone else that most people don't notice that they're gone, and the Alliance has been keeping it quiet to avoid mass panic."

"So basically some assholes in suits that sit behind a desk in ivory towers all day long decided to cover up the deaths of thousands of people in order to prevent them from actually having to do something?" Xigbar asked, single eye half-lidded with disgust.

"And they put the two dozen or so survivors in warehouse basements and tell them to do something to prevent the loss of more lives whenever the government or the Heartless decide to get off their ass and really start shit. That's the world we live in, get used to it. Or not, depends on how the whole fight for the survival of the human race thing works out," the scarred woman added with a shrug, as if she didn't really care either way, "You're all junctioned to a summon, you should know about the war by now anyway, unless you're honestly stupid enough to think your dreams are just that."

"One of the weapons those Moogles was making belongs to a friend of mine," Hayner said, speaking for the first time since they got here, "I'm willing to bet a lot more are for people I know as well."

She nodded, cocking her head to the side a little as if thinking; then got up and opened one of the boxes nearest her desk, rummaging around it for a few seconds before pulling out a few smaller boxes and tossing them to him, and another package to Xigbar.

"Those are .45 caliber bullets made with light crystals mixed into the metal. Quite effective on the shadows. They're going to become much more common in Twilight in the next few weeks, so try to keep yourselves alive, you especially, Hayner. Now get the fuck out of my office and back to the surface, I have some new recruits to put fear into."

"What's your name?" Larxene asked, though why she wanted to know was really a mystery to him.

"Just call me Bitch, everyone else does," the brown-eyed woman answered with a wry smile that the questioner returned. Based on what little he knew of the female mercenary, those two would probably get along quite well.

They left as they were instructed, the sandy-blond cop remaining behind the longest, eventually turning and following his boyfriend out. There was something off about him again, he could sense it through their link. Prodding only got him shoved away, so he'd have to deal with it later. Larxene and Xigbar left immediately, out to seek more jobs, but not before the woman gave the lithe man a hug to say goodbye. The other two remained, Zack giving the detectives a mischievous smile.

"You know, that offer for free drinks at Tifa's bar still stands. Want to join us? Or do you have some important business to get taken care of today?"

"There cannot possibly be anything that needs doing that is more important than getting completely fucking hosed right now. Unless you had some protest, Seif?" The youngest blond asked, turning to his counterpart.

Still disturbed by the news the blind woman had told them, he agreed. At least while he was drunk he wouldn't quite have the mental faculties to keep trying to imagine what losing tens of thousands of people would be like. Or what losing everyone you knew and having the government deny their existence would feel like. Drinking until they passed out on the floor sounded like the best idea anyone had had all day right now. It was still kind of odd riding double with Cloud, especially now that he'd have to maintain their proximity for about a half hour to get to their destination. He could feel the consciousness of the man in front of him brush and mingle with his own at times through his junction with Ultima, and knew Hayner could feel it from Zack as well.

Blocking the others out, he tried to talk to Hayner over their link, _"Hey, what's got you so upset?"_

"_You mean other than learning that we're about to get shoved into a massive battle with shittons of Heartless? Ultima told me a bit about the lady back there, she's junctioned to Odin, he acts as her eyes. His summon gem is actually inside the eye that's covered by that bandanna, her left eye was completely destroyed in the attack, along with the retinal nerve in the right eye, and the socket was sewn shut with the materia inside. She was twenty when the attack happened. That sort of shit has happened to dozens of people, and no one even fucking knows about it but them. I'm of half a mind to go to the seat of the Alliance and burn the place to the ground."_

"_I don't think our boss would approve of that, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I feel the same way. Chances are they won't even do anything about the impending Heartless swarm until it destroys a larger city, something they deem as important enough to bother noticing."_

"_If someone doesn't do something, we're not going to lose tens of thousands of innocent lives, we'll lose hundreds of thousands."_

He suddenly felt physically ill, enough that the mercenary he was riding with brushed his consciousness to ensure that he was alright. The older blond floated there for a moment, the gesture an invitation to talk to him telepathically. Sending him the simple thought _'I'm fine'_, he felt the other back down.

It was kind of an odd dynamic he had with Cloud, now more than ever the troubled mercenary reminded him of an emotionally distant older brother, vaguely genial and protective toward him for whatever reason. In the past they never talked much, hardly ever saw each other and when it happened it was by chance, yet the man had saved his life three years ago during a particularly nasty run-in with a gang that left him unconscious and bleeding out on the sidewalk. It was pure happenstance that Cloud was even there that night, but he'd still healed Seifer and carried him somewhere safe, waiting around until the scarred man had come around before taking off. The other had stolen his number and sent him a text later that read 'Don't be a hero, you'll lose everything'. He got the feeling he reminded the older man of himself before life curbstomped him.

He let his mind go blank the rest of the ride to the bar, running a hand through his hair as they walked in. Reno and Rude were already drinking, which was kind of funny because it was three in the afternoon. Obviously they got started early on their days off.

"Well shit, if it isn't Hayner and Seifer. The fuck are you two doing here already looking like you're going to puke, yo?"

"The only reason people ever come to a bar with their significant other? To get drunk, Reno, you moron," the blue-eyed cop spat back.

"You're Hayner? The kid that saved Zacky? Omigod!" A young woman with a headband and bobbed black hair exclaimed before barreling into him, nearly taking them both the floor.

He recognized her suddenly as the materia thief he used to work with, only several years older and still no more mature. That jealous feeling returned, and he suddenly had a huge problem with the number of women that wanted to latch onto his boyfriend today. Seriously, did they all decide to take an interest in him as soon as he was taken or something?

"Yuffie, how many times do I have to tell you, it's not polite to just tackle people," an older woman said as she walked out from behind the bar and peeled the girl off Hayner.

"But Tifa," she whined, extending the last vowel of the bartender's name, "He saved Zacky and made Cloud less of an antisocial jerk!"

"That doesn't mean you get to molest him in front of his boyfriend who looks about ready to murder you, Yuf. I swear, how did you make it this far without any self-preservation instincts?" The long-haired woman sighed, shoving her back toward the bar before extending her hand to her new patrons, which they shook genially.

"Hello, my name is Tifa Lockhart, this is my bar. You're welcome here whenever you feel like making the commute, and of course all our drinks are on the house for you two. Like Yuffie said, you did everyone a big favor by bringing Zack back into our lives and making Cloud more tolerable to be around."

A disgruntled sound drew their attention to the blond man in question, looking rather put out by his friends talking about him. Tifa smiled and ruffled his yellow spikes affectionately, acting much like an older sister would. He rolled his eyes and gave her a small smile, walking with his other half over to the bar and sitting down on one of the many stools there. The other Turks joined their fellows at the bar, Hayner sitting in Seifer's lap just to be obnoxiously adorable. He kissed his partner, tasting the fear and depression in his mouth as easily as he could feel it. Everything was kind of fucked up now, wasn't it? They'd just have to deal with it the way they dealt with everything: in the most destructive way possible.

"So how did everything go, Cloud?" The woman with reddish-brown eyes asked as she polished a shot glass before setting it down next to the others that lined the back wall.

"I need a triple shot of something really, really hard. So do Hayner and Seifer," he said by way of answering, a frown creasing the establishment owner's features.

"That bad, huh? Well, in that case, let's get everyone as hammered as possible so that if you start drunkenly crying again no one will remember by tomorrow," she teased as she grabbed a bottle off the shelf and clinked several shot glasses on the table.

"One time, Tifa. One. Time."

The older mercenary clearly found this entertaining, Zack laughing a little despite himself. Leave it to him to be the first one to manage a smile after all that depressing bullshit dumped on them. By the time Seifer even had time to notice the shots placed in front of them his lover had downed his in a single swig. He had a feeling they'd all be passed out on the floor in two hours or less. Which was completely fine with him as he downed his own glass. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he'd actually gotten so drunk he lost consciousness. He'd ended up being one of those people who throws themselves into work to avoid thinking about all the terrible things that he'd witnessed rather than the ones who drink for the same purpose, but for the moment he couldn't work.

"Hey, Hayner, why don't we have a drinking contest? Last one to pass out wins. Tifa can referee, because neither of us are going to remember most of this," he suggested in an attempt to lighten the mood a little as the alcohol settled warmly in his stomach.

"Wins what?" He returned, dark eyes curious.

Smirking and wondering why his other half even needed to ask, he just sent him a few choice mental images and studied the way his pupils dilated as he blushed. And now the older man was both turned on and starting to get a little buzzed. It was going to be incredibly difficult to not drunkenly have sex with his boyfriend because after about three or four more glasses of liquor he wasn't going to remember why he shouldn't. Maybe he should ask the bar keep to mix things up a little bit so he could avoid making an ass of himself before everyone was too gone to notice.

"Did you typically drink straight when you went to bars, or did you prefer mixed drinks?" Hayner asked him before shooting back another like he was drinking water.

"Like I said, I usually had drinks bought for me rather than the other way around, so it was whatever. Typically mixed, but every once in a while I'd go to a dive and drink Jack and Cuervo straight until I passed out on the floor because sometimes you just have to. You? Probably straight, right?"

"Yep, typically just did shots of whatever the bartender threw my way. Despite being affiliated with the mob, most of them were fond of me, so they gave me whatever they liked best unless I specifically asked for something."

"Worst thing you ever tried?" He asked as he let another gulp of the liquid rush down his throat.

"Absinthe. And that's all I'm ever going to say about that night."

"Ouch, shit's nasty. Why did you even drink it? Did you honestly just hate yourself that night or something?"

"I was…ah, pretty fucking drunk at that point. I didn't really notice until I'd already downed it."

"Did you at least get back at the guy who gave it to you? That's not something you should do as a prank, especially not to someone who is already drunk. He coulda killed you."

"Yep. Soon as I got out of the ER I shot him in the leg and left him there. Street justice is the best, in my opinion."

"See, I knew you'd fit right in as a Turk, yo," Reno piped up with a bit of a slur, though his green-blue eyes were still sharp.

"Tifa, Reno isn't drunk enough to stop being obnoxious, please remedy this immediately. His existence is ruining my buzz," Seifer snapped, having always found the redhead more than a little irritating, even more so when he was just trying to get hosed in peace.

She smiled and complied with his instruction, clearly understanding his problem. The tattooed Turk was definitely one of those people whom raised the question of why their parents didn't drown them early on. At least his brother was more tolerable.

"So, that mercenary, Larxene? What's her history with you, she's obviously one of your biggest fans, yet seems ready to eviscerate everyone else on the planet at the drop of a hat."

Hayner laughed, "She's a cousin of Kairi and Namine's. Was orphaned and homeless before my mom took her in. Helped raise me and was in charge of making sure nothing awful happened while Mom was gone. Continued to do so after Mom was killed, up until she turned eighteen and started working mob jobs with Xigbar. She's eight years older than me. The only reason she's so cruel and violent is because life hasn't really treated her the best, but…Either out of a sense of duty to my mother for taking her off the streets or because she's had a hand in my life pretty much the entire time, she's kind to me. Sort of mothering, in her own way."

"Well that makes a hell of a lot more sense than anything I could come up with. I imagine she's also a fan of the way you've been taking care of her cousins."

"Yeah, of course, she'd known I was gay for a while before that point. Otherwise, if she thought I might present a threat to the twins, I'm sure she wouldn't have hesitated to kill me. Blood and water and all that. She watches over them as well, they have a tendency to get themselves in trouble out on the streets."

"Sounds like someone else I know," he quipped, giving the other a meaningful look, which got him nothing but a roll of the eyes in response.

Two shots later and he had completely forgotten about everyone else, annoying or not, and was very intently focused on finding every drop of alcohol still lurking in his boyfriend's mouth with his tongue. It seemed like the lithe cop was winning their game, he appeared still vaguely in control of his sexual urges, while his partner was quietly trying to convince him to have sex in the bathroom. Tifa had already had to carry Yuffie and Zack to the booths to sleep their drunkenness off, Reno she just left on the floor where he was. The bartender was having a muted conversation with Rude, and even in his current state of inebriation Seifer could see that they were either in a relationship or wanted to be.

Downing one last shot, he kissed Hayner again before resting his head on the younger man's shoulder and falling asleep.

* * *

><p>Hayner blinked a few times, trying to stay awake as he contemplated the shot glass in front of him, wondering if he should ask the bartender to fill it or just try to sober up enough to speak again. His partner was sleeping in a booth behind him, Cloud also having reached his limit in the past ten minutes. Or hour, it was kind of hard to tell without a clock. This left Rude, Tifa, and himself as the last conscious occupants of the bar. He decided to just let himself sober up, because he really disliked passing out, even among friends. Too many bad experiences in the past.<p>

"You know, you're going to burn through that alcohol a hell of a lot faster than you used to, now that you carry mana in your body. Learned that from taking care of Cloud for so long. Since the magic is there with the sole purpose of protecting you, it actively breaks down poisons in your body, including alcohol," the brunette woman informed him, dark eyes focusing on him after he'd sat there for about half an hour, toying with one of the round crystals he had with him.

"So I'm probably going to be sober in an hour or so? Guess that would explain why I can already think clearer."

"And the others will probably be up in about the same amount of time. Although it won't help much with the hangover, sorry about that. Is there a particular reason all four of you decided to get drunk? It's not like Cloud or Zack to do that unless something pretty terrible just happened."

"You know about the Heartless, don't you?" He asked, and she nodded as she walked over to stand across from him at the bar.

"Well, we just met someone running an underground weapons development facility who basically told us the Heartless are gathering forces to wage war on us. Speaking optimistically, a hell of a lot of people are going to die. Not something any of us want to really deal with right now."

She had paled a little, mouth drawn into a thin line, "I can see why not. I imagine it will be up to us to clean up the mess too."

"What do you mean?" He asked, not following her last statement at all, regardless of the alcohol clouding his mind.

"Oh, right. You're not a ranked mage, so you wouldn't have a reason to know. The draft system requires every mage that is a legal adult to join the military in times of war. It's obligatory. People like Cloud and Zack, high-level sorcerers with combat and weapons training, would comprise the top sections of the chain of command in the Mage Corps, beyond that military rank would be based directly on the mage rank of the person. So, if the Heartless start a full assault, we're going to be on the front lines, whether we want to be or not."

"Awesome. Today can't possibly get any better."

"Don't worry Hayner, if things come to that we'll take care of you. I may not look like much, but as far as hand to hand combat I can give anyone a run for their money. We won't let anything happen to you or your other half."

"Are you actually Cloud's older sister, or did you just assume the role when he lost Zack and became completely emotionally helpless? I've just been wondering for the past two or three or five hours."

"The latter. He's very important to me. For the longest time I couldn't get him to tell me what had happened after the last time we'd seen each other, it had been quite a few years. Then when I finally got it out of him, I just sort of…started to mother him, and tried every day to get him to smile again. Some days he would, others he wouldn't even speak to me. For several months he actually skipped town and lived in an abandoned building just to avoid dealing with people. He's a very difficult person to understand, but I knew why he was acting like that so I put up with it. When he brought Zack home he was honestly happier than I've ever seen him, one of the happiest days of my life too. I know you've probably heard this a dozen times, but you saved both their lives, Hayner."

"If Cloud was such a cold bastard up until recently, how did he and Seifer become vague friends? Because they are, and it doesn't appear to be a new thing."

"Seifer has been joined to Ultima about as long as Cloud has. They know things about each other through that junction that most of their friends probably don't. From the two dozen or so phrases he said about your boyfriend before he actually remembered how to string multiple words together into a sentence, he kind of saw Seifer as a younger brother. The kind too stupid to keep themselves alive without help. No offense, of course."

"No, you're absolutely right. It's a miracle that he's survived this long, though he's not stupid so much as arrogant."

"Well, he's obviously found a good home with the Turks, pretty much everyone there has traits that probably should have gotten them killed years ago. How about you, how are you feeling about joining them?"

"Well I already know most of them somehow, so I guess it won't be all that difficult to get along with them. Otherwise, there's really not much that I'm worried about. I've got Seifer with me and he's managed to keep me alive so far, I doubt there's much he can't protect me from if he's prevented my death at the hands of my own stupidity."

She smiled slightly before ruffling his hair affectionately, a gesture he was hardly expecting and didn't know how to respond to. He guessed this meant she saw him as an emotionally distraught family member now too, which wasn't all that surprising given her nurturing personality. He'd noticed a crayon drawing taped to a clear space on the wall behind the bar and he guessed she had adopted at least one child. Smiling a little at her in return, he wondered how he was lucky enough to fall in with such a large group of people who genuinely cared about him. Twirling the small stone at his fingertips, he knew they'd have to go home as soon as Seifer woke up, if not because they had shit they needed to take care of, but because Griever had no one to give him his dinner.

He was considering dealing with the kidnapper later tonight, sometime in the early morning. There was no doubt in his mind that he could find the people who were taking the children, and likely the missing persons themselves. At this point there wasn't much reason not to find them, other than not being on duty or having backup. He'd just call Tseng or Elena and ask them permission and maybe rope another pair into the operation. Though whether his partner wanted to deal with the added stress was up for debate, he really hated it when the blue-eyed cop agreed to do something only because he cared about Hayner. He got the feeling it happened more than he knew.

Coughing for a few minutes, he suddenly had the urge to smoke again, which for the past hour he'd managed to ignore. Earlier it was difficult not to bum a cigarette off Reno, because he'd really never gone drinking without smoking at least a pack of them during the night. Ultima was helping him, and so was his companion, but it was still going to be utterly awful for a month or more. Carding a hand through his hair to straighten it, he drank the glass of water offered him. Drawing a little bit of mana out of the crystal, he let it dance along his nerves until his body absorbed it, adding to the store already there.

"Be careful you don't trade one addiction for another. If you draw magic energy into yourself too often or in large amounts, you can not only get a high off it, but worst-case scenario your body can get mako poisoning. Cloud was rendered comatose for months because of it."

"I'll take care of myself, don't worry. Everyone is counting on me to stick around."

Resting his head against the smooth surface of the bar he waited for everyone to wake up from their stupor, wondering if they'd still be here in two or three months, if here would even exist.

* * *

><p>Stumbling into consciousness much as he left it, the elder of the pair rubbed his temples against the headache behind his eyes and sat up. Hayner was immediately at his side, handing him a glass of water and some aspirin. Clearly he'd won their bet, not that Seifer really minded.<p>

"You alright, Seif?"

"Just fine, considering I feel like I was hit by a truck again. You want to head home?"

"Yeah, Zack and Cloud are already getting ready, apparently they have a job in Twilight today so at least they won't be going out of their way by much. Also, what do you mean again? Have you been hit by a truck before?"

"Yes, I have. About five years ago. Yet another instance in my life when I was in a coma for more than a few days. I should probably qualify that it was a semi, and I wasn't in a car at the time."

"How did you even survive?"

"Not sure, doctors asked me the same question, as if I'd actually remember. If I had to guess, Ultima saved me, because there's really no other explanation for it. Why she would is beyond me."

Hayner's eyes glowed white briefly as he communicated with the High Seraph, who almost seemed to be using him as an avatar. It was getting to the point where everyone was a little worried about how close she was with the sandy-blond man. Maybe it was wrong to expect everything she did to have an ulterior motive behind it, but considering her personality it didn't seem unreasonable to think she might just take him over completely to summon herself or use him as a mindless puppet.

"She doesn't want to say much, just that we have a much larger destiny, and it's important we all make it there. Cryptic, isn't she?"

"Always. It's creepy how much she talks to you, she rarely if ever actually communicates with her summoners, and definitely not on a question-answer basis."

"Well she likes me better than everyone else," the younger Turk answered with a nonchalant shrug.

Shaking his head at his partner, he let the topic drop, because the smaller man would be the first one to be suspicious of someone helping him. He wasn't stupid and he wasn't naïve, not by a long shot. Getting out of the booth groggily, he combed his hair back with his fingers, knowing he was probably a complete mess.

"You're still absurdly hot, even completely hungover."

"Quit reading my mind."

"You just think really loud when you're not paying attention, I'm not actively trying to read your thoughts. Come on, our rides are ready to go and are not in the mood to be patient."

Drawing his consciousness into a section of his mind not easily accessible by the other, he considered the statement. He'd always been good at shielding himself from other junctioned mages, being around them on an almost constant basis had made it necessary. Of course the two of them were much closer than pretty much everyone else, but that didn't mean his boyfriend should be able to pick up on his thoughts without any effort, even if Seifer wasn't at his best. Following the teen, he resolved to try to sneak away and talk to the lead researcher at the center next to the station because there were a few too many things out of the ordinary for him to be comfortable not knowing. Ultima shifted through his thoughts briefly but didn't deign to comment, just muttering in an ancient language at the back of his mind.

Getting on the back of the blond mercenary's bike once again, he remained silent on the ride back through the darkness. Certain he didn't just imagine the dark energies shifting at the edges of his senses, he kept his eyes on the empty void beyond the reach of the headlights. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, though out of them it was the youngest that seemed the most bothered. Probably because he knew they were out there but hadn't learned how to sense magical energy yet, so he had no clue where the Heartless actually were. To him they were just monsters lurking in the night waiting to jump out at the most inopportune moment.

"Nothing's going to happen, Hayner. Any one of us could down a Neoshadow before it even got within fifteen yards."

"Doesn't mean they won't set me on edge. They don't scare you because you can track them, and you don't have to deal with nightmares about them every night. I'm fine, I just want to get home."

The brown-eyed man's mind flitted away from the connection they shared, completely out of reach of the elder's questing. He hated that the other still pushed him away, but he didn't view it as a reflection on him personally. It was what the lithe blond was conditioned to do, build walls around himself to prevent others from harming him further. He'd made incredible progress toward getting his partner to trust him, but it would take months, if not years, for his other half to believe, without a doubt, that he was safe. Psychologically the fledgling Turk was the most disturbed, broken individual he'd ever met, and that was really saying something. Having three fully-realized personas existing at the same time in his subconscious was enough to get him committed by itself, ignoring his post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, anxiety, and depression. It was nothing he couldn't work around, but that he even had to made him wish there was time magic powerful enough for him to go to the past and rescue the younger blond.

They arrived at their destination without incident, which was lucky enough to make Seifer suspicious. Their rides left with a friendly goodbye, and he sincerely doubted it would be long before they saw each other again. There still seemed to be something on his boyfriend's mind, but he decided to wait to address it until they were alone and he'd fed Griever. The panther probably missed them, besides being hungry. Unlocking and pushing the door open after a silent ride in the elevator, he nearly tripped over the beast as he wound his way around his master's legs.

"Yes, I missed you too big guy. Now get off so I can get you some food," he commanded, the black cat obeying him and trotting over to sit patiently by the kitchen.

He pulled out one of the many packages steaks he had sitting in his fridge for the cat and tore open the shrinkwrap, setting the foam plate on the floor so his pet could devour it. Of course, the animal had already left its position in the kitchen to sit on the couch with the other occupant of the apartment. Hayner had buried his face in the sleek fur of the cat and was petting him gently, looking distraught. It was difficult to tell if there was some new reason for him to be upset, or if he was still trying to deal with everything. Approaching the pair, he was shocked when the golden-eyed creature snarled at him, teeth bared menacingly.

"No Griever, it's okay," the smaller blond reassured him, pushing him onto the floor so he could go get his dinner.

"Awesome, my cat officially likes you more than me. You're awful, you know that? Stealing a guy's cat," he joked as he sat down on the couch, pulling his boyfriend into his lap.

"Can't help that I am way more likeable than you'll ever be. Do you think we can convince one of the bosses to let us go on-duty to find those kidnappers? The longer we wait, the bigger the problem is going to get. Besides, I don't want to face Nam and Kairi in the event they found out I've had an idea where Amanda's brother is this whole time and didn't do anything about it."

"You're rather restless today. Trying to take your mind off things? You know it's not good to go into a situation without a clear head."

"I can handle myself, I'm not so stupid that I'll let myself be distracted in a firefight. A little more faith in me would be nice, asshole. And no, I'm just trying to get everything out of the way before we have to go to work. Would be nice to have something to show for our vacation other than a hangover and a bunch of information we can't share with anyone."

"Actually I think the point of a vacation is to have nothing but a hangover afterward. If you want to get those kids back, I'm in. It would be a good opportunity for you to get used to using magic against people in a serious fight. We'll need backup, Fuu and Rai would probably work best for this kind of mission."

He nodded as Seifer pulled out his phone and called the Chief, wondering if he would once again be told he didn't understand the point of a vacation He was supposed to be enjoying himself, right? Just because his idea of entertainment was beating the fuck out of terrible people and doing the exact same things he did at work didn't mean he wasn't using his time off correctly.

"Seifer Almasy, if you are calling me to ask to go on duty I am going to hang up on you," Elena answered, apparently having stolen her partner's phone from him to prevent him from overworking himself again.

"…Is that a yes then?"

She sighed loud enough for it to come over the phone, "What are you going to do, Seifer?"

"Hayner and I are going to go after those missing kids. We have enough information to lead a formal investigation and try to rescue them if they're still alive."

"You don't have a warrant, how do you think you're going to get in there without breaking the law yourself?"

"Already got that covered, the whole area is condemned and under the ownership of the city, they're going to 'doze it and put a park in. Public property, so we won't be breaking in, just investigating a building for squatters. I need Fuu and Rai though, if they're on today."

"They are, and you can have them. You and Hayner are ordered to go on duty starting immediately and locate the missing persons in question. You are authorized to use lethal force if necessary to protect yourself, your coworkers, and the children."

"Thanks Elena. Hopefully I'll call you in a few hours to come pick up the bodies and the kids."

"Good luck, detective."

The line went dead and he turned back to his companion, giving him a small smirk. He called his friends next, letting them know where they needed to meet him and when, guessing half an hour was enough time for both parties to get ready. He realized he'd completely forgotten to bring up the suits for Hayner that were currently contained within his closet, a gift from the altogether too enthusiastic Marluxia. He mentioned them, his boyfriend rolling his eyes and mumbling something about the pink-haired man always being fond of seeing him in a suit. Which did nothing for the current streak of possessive feelings he was having today.

"Is there a particular reason Turks have to wear suits every day? Most detectives only have to wear dress attire three or four days out of the week, and they sure as hell don't wear black suits."

"We're the most powerful police force in the world, operating with the sole purpose of destroying organized crime, arguably the toughest job there is. We have to look completely competent and professional at all times. You know, even if not all of us are."

"You're making a jab at Roxas, aren't you? What did I tell you about being friendly with him?"

"Hey, he's not here to be pissed off and I didn't say his name out loud. That's really all I can offer you."

Giving him an exasperated look, the other just followed him into their room, tugging off his clothes as Seifer laid out their respective work uniforms. As soon as the thought of molesting his boyfriend entered his thoughts, Hayner shot him a nasty look, warning him against it. Can't blame a guy for trying. It was fascinating watching the younger cop tie his tie with the indifferent grace of someone who didn't even need to think about what they were doing. He then turned, and with a small, shy smile, tied the larger man's tie as well. It was a sweet gesture, and he leaned down the inch or so difference in their heights to place a soft kiss on his lips.

"Love you, Hayner."

"Love you too, Seif. Now let's go rescue some mages," he returned the sentiment, tucking his guns into his waistband and sliding the extra clips handed him into his chest pockets.

"Are you going to continue carrying your 'nine? Most situations we're going to find ourselves in aren't the kind you can solve by hitting someone with a rubber bullet."

"Just trust me Seifer, I know what I'm doing."

They met up with their coworkers shortly after, the eldest of them belatedly realizing his boyfriend had probably never met the two Turks in person, only hearing about them from others. Of course, they would instantly adore him, not only because for some reason most people did, but because they had to know the partners were together as soon as they saw them, because it was painfully obvious. Fuujin and Raijin knew that anyone worthy of their friend's attention had to be pretty fucking awesome.

"Hayner, this is Fuu and Rai," he introduced them simply, Fuu's red eye looking between them as if trying to figure out a math problem.

"Boyfriends."

"Uh, yeah. We're together, I was going to tell you, but it just happened last night, so…" He trailed off and she smacked him upside the head, which he was expecting for forgetting to tell them about it immediately.

"Idiot."

"What she means is she's happy for you guys, ya know? Good to meet you, Hayner."

"Same, nice to meet you both. I understand you've all been friends for a great deal of time, how the hell did you put up with him for so long?" The sandy-haired teen joked, ignoring the glare shot his way.

"Difficult," the silver-haired woman said, lopsided smile making its way onto her face to show she was joking.

Stalking toward their first target building in mock irritation at their antics, he couldn't help but let a smile tug at his lips. It was good that they were all getting along. Not that he was surprised, Hayner was the missing piece of the puzzle, in both his life and in the ranks of the Turks. It was inexplicable and everyone had tried to ignore it by not mentioning it out loud, but for as long as he'd been a member of the team everyone had been aware their family was missing a person, and it was more than just him not having a partner. He'd even noticed in group photos they occasionally had to endure for the newspaper they had unconsciously left a spot for the person, every single time. It was something he never understood until now.

"These people are likely armed and capable of using magic, so be careful and stay behind cover. We're looking for several mages in their teens, though whether they've been convinced to fight for their captors or not is unknown. As I'm sure you've all guessed, we can kill the kidnappers if we need to. I would suggest a shoot first, ask questions later approach."

"But that's what you always suggest, ya know?"

"It's worked for me so far," he answered the dark-skinned man with a shrug.

They entered the building through a door with a broken lock, the inside dark enough that for a few minutes none of them could see. Once their eyes adjusted they made their way down the narrow corridor to a larger room, it was difficult to discern what the exact purpose of this building was based on the architecture. The foursome continued into yet another room, with a two-story ceiling and ample space to move in. Hayner spotted some stairs and traveled toward them, the door having come off its hinges some time ago. They had the option of up or down, and after a second of deliberation the blue-eyed detective chose down, guessing if they were going to hold people hostage they would do it in a place without windows.

It was even darker in the lower level, if that was possible, and Rai tripped over something within a few minutes of them trying to traverse the first corridor. He recovered with more grace than he used to have, but the noise was still enough to fill the hallway for a few tense seconds. Muffled sounds came from one of the corridors that branched off of the left side and within a second all four cops had their guns at the ready. It quieted and at that point they knew whoever was down here with them was lying in wait. The black-haired man decided to take the point as he rounded the corner of the first threshold, normally Seifer preferred to lead but he'd really had enough of being shot up lately, he'd let someone else act as a human shield for once.

A few bullets whizzed past them and lightning arced to their source as Raijin shot off a thundaga spell. There were several people in the large room, most of them just now readying their weapons, perhaps shocked that they were being attacked by skilled magic users. He doubted they were used to going up against people that could properly defend themselves against guns. Firing off a couple shots toward the people to his left that were taking aim at himself and his partner, he watched their bodies crumple to the ground and realized he'd missed group raids like this. Speaking the words to a fire spell as quickly as he could, he let loose a few fireballs at two people trying to escape. Hayner skipped the spell and just speared one of the larger men with pure magical energy as he advanced on the female detective, something Seifer could honestly say he'd never seen before. Maybe he hadn't been paying enough attention to his pupil's burgeoning magical abilities.

Rai took a bullet to the chest and he went to a knee, his partner immediately on top of him healing the wound before he bled to death. The two blonds managed to finish off the last few combatants in the room, about to help their comrades when half a dozen more thugs came running in from an adjacent room about a hundred feet away. Minds sliding together, both men started reciting the words to a spell, managing to finish just before the enemies were able to actually aim in the darkness well enough to hit any of them. The wind and fire spells fed into one another, producing a serpent-like rope of fire that shot toward the kidnappers, encircling them. Their screams echoed in the underground space as they fell to the ground in flames.

"You alright, Rai?" The blue-eyed detective asked breathlessly once he was certain they weren't going to be attacked again.

"Yeah, Fuu took care of it, I'll be fine, ya know?" He answered as he stood somewhat shakily.

Nodding and lighting a flame in his hand to cast some light on the area, he moved into the room the other assailants had come from, immediately noticing the large cage that had been built in it, holding the children they were looking for. They were all silenced, something he would expect anyone with half a brain to do with magic-users, so he began casting vox on them one at a time, Fuu and Hayner following suit. There were about a dozen of them, most of them nursing injuries and all just generally looking bedraggled and frightened.

Instructing them to step back, he observed the metal bars that contained them, and decided he was just too lazy to go rooting through the bodies for the key to the lock, or to bother picking it. Instead he slowly melted enough of the poles to allow a person through, watching as the reddened iron bent, twisted, and eventually wept itself to the floor. His partner doused it, filling the room with steam.

"Is anyone seriously injured?" He asked, and upon receiving no response, assumed that was a no, "Then follow us, we're going to get you out of here. I'm Seifer, and this is Hayner, Fuujin, and Raijin. We're Turks."

"How do we know this isn't another trap?" The oldest of them said, standing in front of the others. He was tall for his age, with black hair and blue eyes that seemed terribly familiar.

"Do you have a sister named Amanda? About five foot four, chin-length black hair, blue eyes, and is a novice water-magic user like yourself?" The brown-eyed blond asked, crossing his arms and tipping his head sideways in an interrogational gesture.

"How did you know that? Is she alright?"

"She's fine, we found her a week or so ago out on the streets. Some friends of mine took her in for the time being. Amanda mentioned you, and that kids with magical abilities were being kidnapped. Honestly she's the only reason we're here right now. If you don't believe us, you can talk to her if you'd like."

He seemed apprehensive, but after a moment's pause responded that he would go with them, so long as he got to see his sister again. The rest of the group followed, cowed into obedience by their trauma. Smirking a bit to himself, he sent his old friends out to take the kids back to the station, saying they'd catch up as soon as they cleared the building. The silver-haired cop looked for all the world like she was going to punch him for trying to put himself in danger again, but she managed to hold herself back this once. Nodding and glaring at him, she turned back down the hall, following behind their flock of mages, her boyfriend leading them.

"You know it's going to be hard to take down a sorcerer-class magic user with just the two of us, right? Even if they aren't nearly as powerful as Cloud or Zack, it'll be a bitch."

The scarred man shrugged at his partner, knowing in any other situation he'd be going it alone right now, and would probably survive. He didn't want to put his boyfriend in dangerous situations, but that was their job, and also Hayner would kill him if he found out he was trying to coddle him. It was really in his best interests to avoid making him angry. Heading up the stairs and continuing up to the second level, he could begin to sense the energy of the other mage in the building, meaning the man had known they were here the whole time in all likelihood. He hadn't left, which meant he was arrogant, laying a trap for them, or both. Considering their average luck, he'd bet on both.

"Regardless of the reason why he hasn't made a run for it, he's an idiot. He should know that anyone capable of summoning Scions is going to kill him before he has a chance to defend himself. Most Spirits will never be able to stand up to Espers, and no Espers will allow him to command them."

"Seriously, stop reading my mind. How can you even do that when I'm not actively letting you?" He bit out, starting to find the way his companion plucked entire thoughts from behind his mental shields really disconcerting. As much as he didn't mind sharing things with the younger blond, it was annoying to never have a private thought.

"Dunno, just can. Clearly I'm just more awesome at this junction thing than you are."

His voice was off, like he was a little wary of his own abilities. He still didn't know a ton about magic, compared with someone who grew up using it and having to learn about it, so it wasn't unusual that he would be frightened of the damage he could do without thinking. It was already to the point where he could hold enough mana in his body to summon Ultima if he needed to, it was likely he would surpass Seifer himself in ability within a few years. Not that he really cared, considering how much trouble the teen attracted it would honestly be nice if he could defend himself against just about anything, with or without his boyfriend to help.

It wasn't till they ascended to the third floor that they found their target, immediately assaulted by spikes of ice. Ducking out of their path and wincing a bit at how far they dug themselves into the wall behind the two detectives, he fired off a shot that missed but managed to distract him long enough for them to enter the room and escape the deathtrap of a stairwell. Their opponent was fairly average looking, except for the white streaks in his mouse-colored hair that spoke of a massive overuse of mako. Would explain how someone so powerful had evaded the notice of the ranking system, he was probably just an adept before he turned into a junkie.

The sorcerer cast protect on himself, making their bullets fairly useless for the time being. Tucking his guns back into his waistband, he synced with his partner as they both dodged the next volley of frozen spears sent their way. Flinging a lightning spell toward the mako-fueled kidnapper, he wasn't surprised when it did little damage. Magic didn't typically work very well against high-level mages, and he'd heard at least three different explanations why, no researcher ever able to quite agree with another.

"He may be mostly immune to our magic, but that doesn't mean we can't take his away," Hayner whispered across their link.

"What do you mean? A silence spell is unlikely to work on him, and wouldn't last long besides."

"Not a spell, Seif. I can drain him, then he won't have the mana to use magic and he'll be completely fucked."

"No way in hell, Hayner. For one, you could never handle the magic you have stored up and his at the same time, and it's too damn dangerous to draw from another human, especially one hopped up on mako."

"You got a better idea? Don't bother answering because I already know you don't. Distract him for a few minutes and just trust me, okay? I promise it'll be fine."

Snarling to himself, he relented, breaking off their contact and running full-tilt at their enemy. Perhaps not the best diversionary tactic in terms of avoiding bodily harm, but it worked every time. Growling as a blade of wind managed to cut into his side as he moved out of the path of the cyclone sent his way, he wondered at the other's willingness to pull risky stunts with his magic. It wasn't anything the older man wouldn't have done if he had the ability, of course, but he'd never really known anyone else as careless with their life as he was. At least now it seemed like Hayner wasn't trying to get himself killed so much as trying to keep the both of them alive through rather dangerous methods. It was odd, but he felt proud somewhere under his worry.

A fire spell left his suit vaguely singed, and it was painfully obvious their enemy was a complete idiot, if he thought using a spell with the same elemental affinity as the person he was aiming at would do him any good. His boyfriend had finished…whatever he was doing and snapped at him to get the fuck out of the way, and he opted to do just that. The subsequent onslaught of magical energy left his ears ringing and he was pretty sure had just compromised the structural integrity of the floor they were on, maybe the whole building. Of course, what could one expect when someone unleashes all the magical energy stored in their body in one go?

The sorcerer was left smashed against the parallel wall, dazed and more than a little bloodied. That he even survived was a miracle, of course, but his luck was about to run out. The pure rage on the sandy-blond cop's face as he drew energy from the half-conscious junkie was really quite terrifying. It was a mystery what precisely he was angry about, but it was enough to make him tug some of the lifestream out of his victim as well, thankfully stopping before the man died. It would be difficult to interrogate a dead body.

The teen opened his mouth to say something but was drowned out by the sound of some of the support beams below and around them buckling. Fantastic. Locating the nearest window, he walked over to their now-prone target and grabbed him by the collar, gesturing to his partner to follow him. Shooting several holes in the glass and brushing the rest of it out of the way, he looked down before grabbing his lover's hand and dragging all three of them out of the opening. He may not make the best entrance every time, but grand exits had always been his forte. In the few seconds before they hit the ground his ever-vigilant companion cast a wind spell, lifting them up enough that they didn't break anything on impact.

Annoyed at having to drag the criminal quite a few blocks before they made it to a road where he could be picked up by someone to take him to the station, he started toward his goal, completely forgetting he was still holding the brown-eyed man's hand. Several loud noises could be heard from the abandoned building behind them before the top level collapsed, bringing the next two down with it. The youngest Turk looked on for a moment before turning back and smirking a little.

"My bad."

"Sometimes it's creepy how Turk-like you are without having been on the force as long as most of us have. How did you do that, by the way? Use non-elemental magic without a spell?"

"Ultima explained it as basically, when typical mages draw magical energy into themselves from the surrounding area and gaia itself, they only draw the streams their bodies are most accustomed too. Like, thinking of mana like particles, and each one has properties specific to an element. Since you have a fire-lightning affinity, you originally only drew those two particles into yourself, until later, when you surrounded yourself with artifacts that polarized your body into accepting other elements as well. Since I have to make a conscious effort to draw magic to fuel spells, I can pick and choose what elements I carry, and as such I've gotten some null crystals from the researchers and drawn from those primarily lately. Non-elemental magic can bend the rules a little, when you speak the words to spells you're calling on those specific elemental magics to manifest themselves in different forms, whereas with null magic, it's just pure energy, and doesn't need to be named to know when it's necessary. Err…That doesn't make a damn bit of sense, does it?"

"Not a great deal, but it's way more believable than most of the current literature on magic. 'Sides, I am inclined to trust in words straight from the mouth of one of the most powerful magical beings in existence more than I would from some twit in a lab coat."

"You clearly have something against scientists. Not all of them are idiots, in fact most aren't."

"If you say so. I just think a lot of them are corrupted, and that sometimes science has too strong a hold over our society."

"Nah, you just failed your biology courses in high school and college so you resent scientists for making subjects you couldn't just skip and pass."

"You're one to talk; I bet you've never taken a science class at all."

He said something in French, then Italian and Spanish, finally smiling at the glare he was receiving and translating, "No, like many things, I taught myself the basics of the sciences."

"You're hot when you speak in tongues. I expressly forbid you to do it around other people unless you have to."

"I think it was French that got me laid most often, though Spanish was a close second. Guys love it when you can roll your r's. Something about being good with your tongue," he returned with an irritating gleam in his eye that told the other he knew damn well that Seifer was possessive and saying things about other guys was a great way to get him pissed off.

"Don't push it, I'm not above throwing you on the ground and finding out just how talented you are," he growled, eyes narrowed to slits.

"Was that supposed to be a threat? Because really, all you're doing is turning me on."

Giving up on even the pretense of professionalism, he dropped the unconscious man, grabbed his partner by the shoulders and pressed him into the nearest wall, crashing their lips together rather violently. Sliding his tongue into the younger blond's mouth, he reveled in the tiny panting sounds he made as they kissed. Their tongues twisted around each other and Hayner blushed, brown eyes watching his almost shyly. It really should be criminal to be that cute, because it made him want to say stupidly romantic things.

"You're beautiful, you amaze me. I love you. Now quit teasing me."

"I love you too-"

A sharp pain at his side drew his attention to his boyfriend's hand, which had unintentionally slipped across the injury he'd completely forgotten about until now. Giving the older of the two a glare, Hayner healed the gash, clearly noticing the bloodstain that had traveled down his partner's side.

"Did you suddenly forget the words to a cure spell?" The sandy-blond Turk snapped, dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No, somewhere between you nearly pulling the life force out of our target and having to jump out of a collapsing building I managed to forget I was injured at all," it really wasn't his fault, as much as he understood why the other was annoyed.

"Well, try not to be so easily distracted, you worry me. Idiot," he added without any real force, giving the other a short kiss before sliding away to continue to their destination.

Sighing and retrieving the prone body once again, he hoped Elena wouldn't be too angry with them about the whole killing a dozen people and demolishing a building thing. They saved the kids, got the one criminal worth interrogating, and none of them had died or gotten so injured they slipped into a coma; in his book that counted as a success. Also, magically, his injury-prone companion had come out unscathed. Not a bad first mission together as Turks at all.

They finally met up with their fellows, who had apparently arranged for several police escorts to come pick the kids up, all of whom had only now arrived. The four Turks went ahead in Fuu and Rai's car, the small red-eyed woman driving. Their relationship had always been an odd one, even when they were kids. Rai always listened to her every command, and if he didn't do things right she'd kick him, and he'd be the one to apologize. They'd gotten past the physical part of that equation, but the dark-skinned cop still followed her lead on everything. Seifer knew he wasn't actually stupid, as best as he could guess Raijin only did it because his girlfriend was a proud, strong woman, and it felt wrong to him to ever try and take that away from her by telling her what to do.

He'd always known they were going to start dating, and probably eventually get married. When they were younger he figured as soon as they started going out he'd be pretty much alone, since in his mind once two people were dating they stopped giving a shit about their friends, since that had been largely his experience prior. But instead they made just as much time for their blond friend as they did for each other, for which he was terribly lucky. Not just that he had great friends, but because without them to guilt him into sticking around, he probably would have gotten himself killed doing something unreasonably risky.

They entered the building with the novice mages in tow, all activity in the normally bustling station appearing to cease when the occupants got a look at them. One person dropped their coffee cup, another, the folder they were carrying. Apparently in the past month or so they'd all managed to forget just how awesome Seifer Almasy was. He would be more than happy to remind them. His blond boss walked out of her office, arms crossed on her chest authoritatively.

"Hey 'Lena, we found the kids, and the guy who took 'em," he said with a small smile, jerking his thumb at the motley crew behind him. She actually enjoyed it when her subordinates called her by the nickname her boyfriend had given her, she was the kind of leader that preferred informality unless the situation called for something else.

"Oh really, Seifer? I just thought you grabbed a bunch of young mages off the street, punched them a few times, threw them in the mud, then found some junkie and knocked him unconscious. Also I've gotten several reports of a building collapsing in the area you were working in, I assume you're to blame?"

"Nope, that was Hayner's fault," his partner glowered at him and elbowed him in the ribs, "but everyone else in the building was already dead, so don't worry."

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel reassured. I assume we're going to have to dig through the rubble to retrieve the bodies?" She rolled her eyes when he nodded, "Oh well, at least you found the missing children. Since you clearly had nothing better to do tonight than annoy me by asking to go on duty, you can enjoy putting them all through the paperwork and returning them to their parents or finding other accommodations for them."

Nodding, he gestured for the kids to follow him, Fuu and Rai tagging along because they knew just how much he disliked lengthy paperwork. Well, actually everyone did, except Zexion. They went into Seifer's office, pulling in several chairs for the kids to sit down in. He had a feeling this was kind of going to suck.

"Alright, first, who here is legally an adult? That means either eighteen or emancipated."

Two of them raised their hands, Amanda's brother and another, a short blond kid that couldn't possibly be eighteen, so he must have taken off on his own recently. That made things a tiny bit easier, but he still had the other ten to deal with.

"We'll deal with you two last if that's okay, the kids have to take priority here. Everyone else, I need you to write your full names and ages down on a sheet of paper, and we're going to report you all as found, okay?"

They did as they were told, and he handed it to his coworkers so they could figure out which of the kids still had parents, and which had been orphaned in the kidnappings. That was never fun news to relate, especially with the age of most of them. At least he was a little better at telling kids that their parents were gone, after having been orphaned himself. Oddly enough, it was Hayner who started asking them about themselves while the other detectives worked through the recent murder records. The youngest of them was a small brunette girl, she had just recently turned thirteen, the rest were fourteen or above. His one-eyed friend returned with the sheet he'd given her, several red x's next to the children's names; at least half of them were without parents now. Shit.

He read off the names of the ones who still had surviving parents and asked them to leave with Fuu, who would take them to the hospital for full medical examinations including a check for psychological damage. Given the option, the emancipated youth opted to go with them, since he was an adult he could choose whether or not to accept their services. The black-haired eighteen year-old remained behind with a dour look on his face.

"So I guess this means our parents are dead?" One of the older boys asked, voicing the thoughts on all of their minds. The lone girl looked like she was trying desperately not to cry, and two of the other boys did. The rest just looked shocked or angry, and he couldn't blame them for the latter.

"Yes, all of your parents were killed by the people who kidnapped you. Which means we need to get you into the system as wards of the Alliance of Cities as soon as you've been looked at by the doctors. I'm sorry this happened to you."

"Isn't it your job to prevent shit like this from happening?"

"Not me specifically, no. I was in the hospital or on vacation during the time you were kidnapped. In fact I'm still technically on vacation, I just went on duty because my partner had a fairly good idea where you were being kept. If you want someone to bitch at, the missing persons detectives are across the hall and I'm sure they'd be happy to explain why they didn't even know your cases were related until Hayner brought it up."

Normally he disliked passing the blame for something off on someone else, but it was ridiculous that four detectives with just one job to do couldn't manage to do it before one Turk who was off duty did it for them. No matter how awesome that one Turk was.

"So, what happens to us now?"

"If you have any surviving relatives, they'll be asked if they want to take you in, otherwise you'll have to deal with an orphanage until you're legal or someone adopts you. It's unfair, and completely shitty, but at least most of you won't have to be there long."

"Yeah? How the fuck do you know how it's going to be, it's not like you've had to go through-"

"He was orphaned at eight years old by members of Don Corneo's mob. So yeah, he has. I know it's difficult, but there's not much you can do about it now except try and become something your parents would have been proud of," Hayner said, dark eyes serious.

It surprised him that his boyfriend would be so bold among people he didn't know, but it pleased him nonetheless that he was starting to come out of the shell he'd so carefully remained in most of his life. His words seem to shut them up for the time being, at least. Rai popped his head in the door and announced that several of their relatives were already headed to the hospital, giving Seifer the perfect opportunity to shove them off on someone else. Not that he didn't want to try and help them more, he just wasn't good at dealing with kids and figured a child psychologist would probably have a bit more luck. They left, all except the oldest of the group.

"You know where my sister is, I'd like to see her, now."

His tone was demanding, but his eyes were uncertain, probably realizing he couldn't really force them into doing anything even if he wanted to. The lithe detective just smirked and pulled out his phone, calling the twins and asking them precisely where they lived. It was within two miles, not far to walk, and conveniently in the same direction as Seifer's apartment. Elena wanted a report on the operation immediately, and getting the black-haired teen to his sister was a fantastic excuse to avoid doing it. She glared at them on their way out, hands on her hips. He knew he'd catch hell from his friends for forcing them to do the paperwork on their own, but they were used to it by now.

* * *

><p>It was difficult to get the younger man to speak to even tell them his name, Samson, much less talk about what had happened to him in the past few weeks. All he cared about was reuniting with his little sister, and any and all conversation seemed to equate to slowing that process down for him. Hayner couldn't really blame him, if Kairi or Namine went missing he'd move heaven and earth to find them, and they were the closest he could come to having sisters. Not that they were helpless by any stretch of the imagination, but even Elena could be overpowered in terrible situations, and she was made of the toughest shit there was.<p>

They ascended the stairs to the third level of an average-looking apartment complex, and the door swung open shortly after he knocked on it. Both of the twins were there, of course in nothing but their undergarments and filmy nightgowns, because no one actually answered the door in normal clothes anymore. Then again, he supposed if he were straight this would give him enough pause for them to slam the door in his face or deck him if he was a stranger with less than good intentions. Clever. Speaking of straight, he glanced over at the black-haired teen and found him moving his mouth in an attempt to make words that didn't seem to be working out very well for him.

"Hi, nice to meet you," they said in unison, "Amanda, there's someone here for you!"

She walked out into the living room from what was likely her bedroom, wearing pajamas and looking like she had just woken up. Rubbing her face tiredly, she started when she looked beyond her temporary guardians and rushed past them to tackle her brother in the sort of desperate hug you only gave someone you thought was dead. It was quietly satisfying to give another person a loved one back, and he realized belatedly that maybe being a Turk wasn't going to be very different from what he did on a regular basis when he was still a mafia man. At least he was already good at it.

"Come on in everyone, before the whole complex sees men in suits talking to us in our underwear and thinks we're escorts or something worse," Kairi said matter-of-factly.

"As it is our landlord thought we were lesbians, apparently looking almost exactly alike no longer qualifies for the relation assumption when applying for housing," her sister added, smiling in a way that sort of tilted itself into a smirk. More like hoped and fantasized that they were, if Hayner had any idea how the mind of a straight man worked. He'd only slept with a couple "straight" men, and he couldn't honestly think of anyone he knew otherwise that was heterosexual, so he couldn't claim he had knowledge beyond them.

"Well, better to be assumed to be incredibly narcissistic lesbians than other things, I suppose. You should have just kept up with the idea, no one would hit on you."

"I suppose, but usually all it takes is a knife or a gun pointed in their direction and men fuck off like they're told," the blond girl said with that terrifyingly sweet smile of hers that spelled nothing but danger.

"So…These are the people you've been staying with?" Samson asked his sister, who was still clutched protectively to his chest, apparently coming to his senses at the mention of deadly weapons.

"They're actually all very nice. Kairi and Namine just don't like men who are bastards. …Occasionally kill men who are bastards," she added meaningfully, pushing him away enough to look up at him.

"So you've been staying with murderers? Better yet, complete strangers who are murderers?"

"Would you rather I was still out on the streets? If it wasn't for these guys I would have been killed or kidnapped by the same guys who took you away and killed Mom and Dad!" She hissed angrily, glaring at him, "They saved me and gave me a place to stay, and then the Turks saved your stupid ass. You could at least be grateful."

Their interactions were interesting to Hayner, he'd never really had the chance to observe the relationship between a brother and a sister that were actually related by blood. Thank goodness most of the Turks got along with each other better than they did.

"Samson, Amanda, why don't you two sit down and have something to eat, then head to bed. I'm sure everything will be easier to deal with in the morning when you're not pissy, hungry, and tired."

The older of the two looked like he was going to refuse, then thought better of arguing with them and followed his sister into the kitchen. As soon as they were out of earshot two sets of cerulean eyes pinned him down. Quickly think of what the hell he could have done wrong now, he couldn't come up with anything worthy of the twins scolding him over it.

"So when were you two going to tell us you finally started dating?" Namine asked, hands on her hips.

"It happened yesterday, and then we had to help Zack and Cloud find a place for the arena fighters to stay this morning, and rescued the kids later. Really, it's not like we've been hiding it for days," Hayner answered, holding his hands up defensively.

"You better not have been…Well, congratulations for realizing what everyone has known for the past month. If it had taken any longer we would have been forced to interfere, even though Tseng specifically instructed us not to. Something along the lines of 'it would be better if they figured it out for themselves, even if it will take longer than it should'."

"Seems odd that he would complain about how long it took when he told me to back off the last time I saw him. Unless…" He paused, thinking.

"He knew that if he told you to stop going after your partner that he would get pissed off at the sudden lack of attention and pull a stunt to draw you out, likely becoming so irritated with you that he would tell you he loved you in one last gambit before leaving, because if you didn't want him around anyway there would be no reason for him to hide it like he had been. Hayner is actually quite predictable once you get to know him, and I'd wager that things went exactly as Tseng planned, right?" Kairi explained with a small smile and a glint in her eyes, like she wished she had come up with it first.

"I'm right here, you know. Quit talking about me in the third person," the brown-eyed man said, eyeing his boyfriend, wondering why the fuck he'd heeded the Wutaian man's order to quit chasing him. It had worked exactly as the Chief expected, but regardless it pissed him off.

"I suddenly have the urge to punch my boss in the face again, that conniving bastard."

"Hey, it worked, so you really have nothing to complain about. You should thank him, everyone else would be been a lot less subtle about it. We probably would have just gotten you drunk, kidnapped you, and locked you in a room together until you admitted your undying love for each other."

It was funny that he could picture them doing just that without any stretch of his imagination. He'd gotten past being frightened of them some time ago, he knew they cared about him too much to actually murder him like they threatened to from time to time. Even if he was occasionally stupid enough to warrant it. He was honestly surprised they hadn't gotten angrier over the whole fiasco at the pier, maybe they had resigned themselves to his self-sacrifice complexes. It was kind of sad when everyone around you just accepted that you were going to end up getting yourself killed and there was nothing they could do to stop you. He had a feeling Seifer's friends and coworkers had about the same opinion on him.

"Well, we've got to get to work fixing up the mess you brought us. It's not going to be easy getting Samson and Amanda used to the idea that they're orphans, or working them through all the red tape of deciding Amanda's custody. You're an atrociously demanding friend, Hayner, I hope you realize that. First we have to babysit you for years and now we have to babysit a couple of orphaned mages too. We expect awesome birthday presents for this."

He snorted, finding it funny that they put up with him at all much less did so much to help him, "You'll get whatever you want, as always. Have I ever not given you two good presents?"

"We're just reminding you of your obligation. The same goes for you, Seifer. You're a part of the family now, so you have to share in the present obligations. Speaking of which, a month from now Roxas's cousin and his fiancé are coming to Twilight. You have a spare bedroom, so you're going to host them. Not negotiable. It's time you met Sora and Riku anyway, Hayner, they've been hearing about you for seven or eight years now," the redhead twin said firmly, eyes unwavering.

"Please tell me Sora isn't like his cousin, I don't think I could handle another Roxas," the blue-eyed man said, apparently knowing better than to argue with them outright.

"Nothing like him, really. They do look similar in some respects, but beyond that you'd never know they were related by blood. I'm sure you'll get along, or else," she added menacingly.

Whoever said females were the weaker sex was obviously murdered the next day. As would any poor idiot who tried to continue the myth be similarly dispatched by a disgruntled woman, if the women he knew reflected the general feminine population even slightly. He'd never met a woman who wasn't at least dangerous, if not downright frightening. Elena and Larxene could shoot someone in the head without batting an eye; Olette had shot a man in the knee over a serious domestic abuse case, thrown him down the stairs, and told him to tell the paramedics he'd "fallen"; Kairi and Namine had offed at least one person each to protect him from them, and from what he could tell after brief meetings with both, Tifa and Fuu were skilled fighters capable of doing much more than merely defending themselves. He wasn't sure about Yuffie, but she was a materia trafficker and that wasn't a job wimpy people got into or survived.

"We'll do our best to entertain them, it's only fair since we've asked you to do the same," Seifer said in his place, realizing he'd gone off on a tangent of thought and was no longer a participant in their conversation.

"Good then, that's taken care of. Now get home you two, I'm sure you have better things to do than stand around here," Namine said with finality, and it wasn't really a mystery what she was referring to.

"Thanks again, Kairi, Nam; try to stay out of trouble and give me a call if you need anything, alright?"

"Do us a favor, no more strays!" They called after the retreating men in unison, smiling.

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><p>Griever dutifully greeted them at the door and tried his best to avoid looking dejected when his master told him to bugger off to the guest bedroom for the time being. He was about to ask why Seifer was kicking his cat to the proverbial curb when he was yanked into a rough kiss by his tie. Apparently his partner had had enough of his teasing. Smiling a little, he threw his weight forward enough to unbalance them, ending up on top of his boyfriend on the floor. Blue eyes watched him curiously, waiting for him to do something. Biting down on his neck hard enough to make the older man hiss, he licked at the red mark briefly before pulling apart the tie he had knotted himself earlier, then unbuttoning the blood-stained white shirt.<p>

Rolling them over, the scarred blond smirked down at him as the smaller of the two ran his fingers along the toned muscles of his abdomen. He would be irritated with how cocky his companion was if he currently had the mental faculties to think of much beyond how hot Seifer was, how much he loved him. The elder Turk leaned down and kissed him, biting his tongue the instant he tried to slide it past his lips, the bastard. Tasting his own blood, he sunk his teeth into the junction between the other's shoulder and neck, hard enough to puncture the skin. They were both rather violent lovers, and normally Hayner was not okay with that, but the unique thing about the man above him was that he knew his other half would never actually hurt him or do anything he wasn't fine with. Seifer Almasy was probably the only person on the planet who could make someone feel safe while armed and pinning them to the floor.

"You usually top, don't you? You're way too angry to bottom regularly," the blue-eyed blond asked randomly, voice rough.

"I've bottomed maybe three times before you, so yeah. I don't mind, if that's what you're worried about. I hope you're cool with bruises and puncture wounds, I'm not very considerate."

The predatory leer that settled on his face was answer enough, but to be honest he never actually entertained the thought that his partner would have an issue with scratches or bites. The scarred cop was as delicate as a reinforced steel girder. Pretty much the only person Hayner could be this physical with and not shatter, and really the only one he wanted to. Considering how shit Seifer was at words compared to his precise and often eloquent body language, he probably understood that his lithe boyfriend just wanted to tear him open and live inside him, or devour him, but didn't know how to express that in syllables. His thoughts were so fantastically insane when he was around his partner, it was a wonder he ever made any sense at all.

"You drive me crazy, and I mean that completely literally."

Eyes like shards of pristine ice flicked up to watch him from where the other was focused on sucking a mark into his neck that made his skin feel hot, "Good, that makes two of us."

He was really, really hard. Almost to the point he might briefly consider actually asking for his lover to do something about it. He never begged, he demanded, and it was exactly that kind of attitude that would make Seifer do something like ignore him for longer to spite him for it, because the larger man took orders from no one. Groaning when a warm hand brushed against his dick as if by accident, he glared at the muscular man atop him, daring him to actually do something productive. Laughter, a low, rolling sound, echoed above him. Finally he actually got to business and slipped his calloused hand under the waistbands of Hayner's pants and boxers, grasping him firmly.

Barely containing the moan that threatened to escape his throat, he swore under his breath and bit his lip. Slow, steady strokes sent small tremors of pleasure up his spine, but it still wasn't really enough to satisfy him in any significant way. He didn't want this to be a patient thing.

"I know you think of rough sex and lovemaking as mutually exclusive, but they aren't. Just because I want to tie you up, throw you against something and fuck you stupid doesn't mean I'm not going to mean it."

"For fuck's sake, why are you talking when there are millions of better things you could be doing with your mouth right now?" He said, voice sounding pathetically breathy and wet and it felt like a terrible betrayal to complain when the other had said something so arousing amid its contradictions.

A short hum of amusement, then, "Millions?"

"You're creative and you have a sexy mouth, I'm sure you could manage."

"I guess we'll see."

He shivered a bit to that, because yes, he really wanted to find out. Seifer kissed him deeply one last time, tongues sliding together roughly before he pulled away and smirked darkly. His eyes were dark with lust, pupils dilated enough to render the irises pale rings. His hair was a mess from fighting and there was a bit of blood on the left side of his face, but Hayner could honestly say he'd never seen anything hotter. A small growl escaped the smaller blond's throat when the other let go of his dick, only to be replaced by a puff of warm air from the scarred man's mouth. His slacks and boxers were tugged down suddenly and the hot mouth enveloped him. The shock of sudden sensation was enough to make him cry out and he bit his tongue to avoid making any more noise after that.

"I see you still have an oral fixation from when you smoked," he commented between pants, reaching behind himself to remove the guns that were biting into his back; they had slipped out from his waistband when his pants were removed.

Apparently the other took this as some sort of challenge, deep-throating his length once more before pulling back and taking his shoes and bottoms off completely. Seifer was the kind of man to go straight for the kill, so it was only somewhat surprising when he flipped Hayner over and traced his entrance with his tongue. Choking, the sandy-blond man slammed his eyes shut in response to the new sensation; it was only sheer force of will that prevented him from coming right then. Biting his lip, he tried to regulate his breathing to avoid hyperventilating into the carpet as the older Turk slowly licked his way into him. He whimpered as soon as calloused hands gripped him again, sliding along his slick cock in time with the movements of the other's tongue. It didn't take long for him to reach the edge, the older cop's name tumbling from his lips as he breathed heavily. Infuriatingly, that was when Seifer pulled away from him and clamped a fist around his dick, preventing him from reaching orgasm.

Growling darkly, he managed to sit up and whirled on the other, gun in hand. Maybe he was too violent, but he was really pissed off at the moment. Of course, his boyfriend seemed to find his rage attractive, smirking as he twisted the smaller man's wrist and forced him to drop the weapon. He pulled the tie from where it hung around his neck and restrained Hayner's wrists behind his back, only meeting with some resistance.

"Is this okay, Hayner?"

He almost laughed at the question, instead calming down enough to answer, "You play dirty, Seifer Almasy. But if you don't finish this I'm going to break those windows…with your face."

This seemed to give him an idea, and he dragged his partner to his feet and pulled him over to the giant windows that overlooked the sea. He was thrown against one pane, not hard enough to hurt, and in the next moment had his legs hiked over the larger blond's hips. Seifer pulled his pants down enough to free his length, supporting his lover with one arm while tearing open a condom wrapper with his teeth and putting it on. He bit down on the brown-eyed teen's neck while he slowly slid himself into the other, his spit providing a decent enough lube that it wasn't painful. The moan that he let out made the scarred man's dick twitch inside him, his breath hitching at the unexpected movement.

"I love you, Hayner," the cop with ice-colored eyes murmured into his ear, leaning in close.

"I love you too, Seifer, now_ move_," he hissed back demandingly.

Happy to comply, he pulled out and slammed back into him, pale eyes facing off with dark ones. The muscular man adjusted his angle and thrust again, brushing against his prostate, the spark of pleasure making him jerk his head back, hitting it hard against the rather strong glass, head filling with stars. He knew precisely why Seifer had tied him up, if his hands were free he would probably be clawing at his back hard enough to draw blood. Four more strokes against the bundle of nerves inside him were enough to make him come, the delayed release intense enough that he screamed. The other swore at the way his muscles clenched around his dick, but managed to avoid orgasming quite yet.

Chest heaving, he waited until he could see straight before trying to think again. Fighting against the silk that bound his arms together, he quickly grew frustrated at his lack of mobility and glared at his partner. Or glared as well as he could when the other thrust hard enough to make his eyes close constantly. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about being completely dominated, it wasn't something he was used to, and the lack of freedom during sex was at times completely infuriating. However, with how utterly jacked up his life was, it was nice to have someone he could depend on to lead him in any situation, including in bed. It certainly helped that Seifer was by far the most attractive and charismatic person he'd met or slept with. Next time he was definitely going to cuff his boyfriend to something though, because he'd never completely give up his control complexes.

"I completely approve of that idea, just in case you wondered. Your mental shields go down after you've just orgasmed, I'll have to keep that in mind."

He meant to say something, but all that came out was a groan as his prostate was rubbed again, everything on his body oversensitive. Every movement produced too much sensation, drew filthy words from his mouth. It was difficult to decide whether he wanted more or wanted it to stop, but after the next thrust rammed into him hard enough to draw another scream he completely forgot what he was thinking about. For the next few minutes he focused on not giving the other the satisfaction of hearing him moan, and it wasn't really working that well. Seifer's pace grew more erratic, and shortly after he bit down on the side of his boyfriend's neck hard enough to make him cry out as the larger man came inside him.

Grunting as his partner slid out of him, he reveled in the sound of the blue-eyed cop panting breathlessly against his neck. He could vaguely feel a wet sensation slowly making its way down his neck to his collar, and he guessed the other had pierced the skin with his love bite. Not that he cared, but if he knew his partner worth a damn, the other would make him leave it there for everyone to see rather than healing it. At least it would be a fast way to let everyone know they were dating. A tongue dragged its way up his neck to lap at the tender wound then traced the curve of his ear. Finding himself getting aroused again, he pulled his lips back in a snarl and threatened his other half if he didn't untie Hayner right the fuck now.

"If you want to go again we're doing it in a proper bed, I'm limiting you to concussing me during sex only once a day. For my health and all," he drawled lazily once his hands were free.

"Ruin all my fun, why don't you?" He purred, before pulling the other into the bedroom and stripping off their remaining clothes.

Two hours later they received a call from Tseng, which Seifer was forced to pick up because it was their boss and he wasn't the kind of man you ignored. He set it to speaker because it wasn't like they didn't share thoughts anyway.

"What is it, Tseng?" The older blond asked, voice somewhat hoarse from their activities.

"Is Hayner there with you, and conscious?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah, he is…Why would he be unconscious?"

"I was concerned he might have passed out from exhaustion, since we've received roughly a dozen complaints about loud intercourse noises from your complex, and have determined it must be coming from your apartment, as you're the only ones who haven't called. I assume this means you've reconciled well enough to return to work full time?"

They couldn't help but laugh, because it was pretty fucking hilarious that their boss had found out about their new relationship due to noise complaints. He was sure the Wutaian was keeping it quiet too, to let them bring it up with their other coworkers on their own terms, so this would be a great story to impart to Roxas later just to get him to blush.

"Uh, yeah, we're definitely ready to be back in the station on a regular basis. We're also dating, if you haven't guessed."

"Excellent, if you were having relations with your partner without any promise of commitment involved I'd have to murder you, Seifer, I'm certain you know why."

The brown-eyed man looked at his companion for an explanation, but he didn't get one. He filed it away to ask about later, his curiosity peaked.

"Well since you're already bothering my second to go on duty, I'm asking you to report to work this evening for third shift. You'll be working on a case with Roxas and Axel."

"We'll be there sir, did you need anything else?"

"I'd ask you to be quiet, but I know you wouldn't listen unless you wanted to. Try to get some rest though, I'm not giving you another break."

"Understood, Tseng. Try to get a little sleep yourself."

The conversation ended and he tossed the phone onto the bed stand again, leaning down to kiss his boyfriend before moving to lie next to him. Curling up against him, Hayner laid his head on the other's broad chest and felt the rise and fall of it before closing his eyes. Even if the world was summarily falling apart around them, they had found something solid to hold onto in one another, and that was all they needed.

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><p>AN2: So that only took me three months. I am so sorry it's been so long since the last chapter. *brbkillingmyself* Yes, I'm aware this is quite short for something that took me so long, but I'm working full time and a full time student, and trying to deal with the stress of finding an apartment before the place I've been staying is sold out from under me. Also, I've got over 40k words of unpublished Seiner just chilling out in my word processor window, not including this chapter or the stories I've submitted since the last chapter. So it's not like I haven't been writing, I often write a thousand words a day...just on several different stories. Ugh. I guess watch out for those stories landing eventually, and with some luck and lots of insomnia I might get chapter 8 done in under three months' time. I appreciate you guys so much for putting up with me thusfar. I hope to see you all soon~ (I might not reply to reviews quickly, I won't have 'net at my new apartment for a few days to a week in all likelihood, I will answer any I can though!)


	8. Stratagem

Four months this time. At the very least I've written and/or submitted over 100k words of Seiner since then, so it's not as if I haven't been doing anything. I just haven't been doing what I'm supposed to. Getting the flow down and juggling this many plots meant it took me a ton of time to write this chapter. Still not feeling fantastic about it, but I think it manages to be interesting while being exceptionally plot-heavy. Thanks for sticking it out guys, I do apologize for how long I'm taking. Chapter is un-beta'd.

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><p>Hayner opened his eyes into a world unlike any of the lands he'd dreamed of before. It was pure blackness, not because it was dark, but because there was nothing there to be lit aside from himself. Looking down at his hands, then his clothes, he realized this was another dream of the future. He was wearing a sleeveless white jacket and had a sword in his hand, but the details blurred and faded before he could analyze them further. He supposed it was difficult to give exacts in visions, since just knowing about them could change them, the butterfly effect. Time and reality were delicate things, his recent experiences with high-level magicks had taught him that. The slightest thing could make them splinter. It made him understand just how beautiful and perfect life really was, because there was such an infinitesimal chance for it even existing in the first place.<p>

Figures began to flash into existence, many of them too brief or undetailed for him to recognize, but there was a body on some sort of horizontal plane that existed in the lack of reality. Focusing all of his thought on it gave it shape, and he saw that it was Squall, the guy that Seifer knew. He was either dead or unconscious, prone and bloody. Then there was Seifer, but it wasn't the one that existed outside of his dreams come to rescue him from a nightmare, it was definitely Seifer from the future. He was bleeding profusely too, barely managing to stay on his feet as his long white coat slowly stained crimson. He was furious, looking at a figure that kept changing appearance, each one seemed vaguely female. She made some sort of movement and suddenly it felt like a needle and thread had been thrust through his heart then wrapped around his arms and neck as it lifted him off wherever he was standing. The pain was vicious and intense; he screamed and it echoed in the non-space.

His lover fell to his knees, gunblade at his side, defeated. He wanted to shout for him not to give up, to do something to stop them, but he couldn't say anything beyond the cord wrapped painfully tight around his neck. The figured walked over to the fallen knight and lifted his chin up so he was forced to look at her, and she let out the most bone-chilling laugh he'd ever heard, like glass bells falling to a stone floor and shattering.

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><p>When he was finally shaken into the reality he knew and understood, he was clutching onto his boyfriend so tightly he was certain he'd leave bruises on his arms. The larger blond held him close to his chest while he rode out the terror from his dream. Several minutes later he could breathe normally again, felt vaguely stable. He didn't want this anymore, he didn't want to fear going to sleep, he didn't want to be the only person who had to deal with visions so vivid and painful, he didn't want to have to feel suffering both when he was asleep and when he was awake. He just wanted to sleep, or hell, just have normal nightmares.<p>

"Are you with me now, Hayner?" The scarred man asked cautiously, face a mask.

"Y-yeah. 'M sorry, did I wake you up?" What a stupid thing to ask.

"Doesn't matter, do you want to talk about it?"

"If my life is ever threatened by an all-powerful being in empty space, don't let them win."

They laughed then, the shaky manic laugh that people let out when they couldn't even comprehend their sorrow and despair well enough to react properly to it anymore. He wanted to cry, but he'd momentarily forgotten how. Somehow he knew his companion felt the same way. The coming storm might very well destroy them, if not physically then in every other respect. At least they would be together, nothing could pull them apart now. When they fell to pieces they'd crumble on one another, and maybe if things lined up just right they'd end up whole again.

"I love you, Seifer, no matter what."

"I love you too, Hayner. I won't let us lose the war, I won't let anyone or anything take you from me either. I don't care what you see, I'll change it."

If anyone in the world had the strength of will to change the future, it was Seifer Almasy. Even Ultima understood this. She adored Hayner like a son, but she had the barest trace of respect for his partner, and that counted for quite a lot coming from the Scion of Light. He felt less small and insignificant each time he had a vision, each morning he woke up with the man he loved. They held a fate much larger than life in their hands, it was difficult to feel unimportant with that knowledge.

"So…Maybe we should get ready for work? I don't know about you, but I need something simple like a multiple homicide to calm my nerves," the brown-eyed teen suggested with a small tremble in his voice.

"Yeah, sounds good to me too. Even dealing with Roxas would be better than dealing with this."

They got up and ate dinner quickly and quietly, then robotically dressed themselves for work. The pair left about an hour early, but that was normal for Seifer. He seemed like he needed to do something with the extra time, so Hayner would just try to settle in with his new family while his partner did whatever. It wasn't suspicious to him that the other hadn't discussed what he was going to do, he'd gotten past that point. When you could access almost all of someone else's thoughts at a whim it was easy to trust them.

He walked into the station alone, Seifer going to the research facility next door to do whatever it was he needed to do and his lithe partner insisting that he not escort him in. It was ridiculous to think that a Turk couldn't brave the dangers of their own police station without their hand held. The sandy-blond may have been paranoid and depressed, but he could still hold his own against the coffee-wielding cops. Making a beeline for Roxas and Axel's shared office, he pushed the door open without the pretense of knocking and found his coworkers in a somewhat compromising position. The lanky redhead had his partner pinned to his desk, back on the paper-strewn wood and legs wrapped around the taller man to keep him from falling off. Eyes the color of oxidized copper flicked up to meet brown, their owner pulling away from his prey to smirk at the newcomer.

"Hey Hayner, wanna join in?"

"Thanks for the offer, but not without Seifer," he returned as he walked up to the desk, cerulean eyes narrowing as they alighted on his bruised neck.

"Are you _sleeping_ with him?" Roxas hissed angrily.

"No, I'm dating him. Get over it," the brown-eyed Turk returned evenly, not in the mood to deal with the spiky-haired blond's disapproval.

"Well, so long as he isn't using you or hurting you...I'm happy for you," his best friend added, looking like it was physically painful to say it.

"Thanks, Roxas, I really do appreciate it. Now, hate to ruin your pre-shift fuck, but do you mind if we actually get down to business? You'll have plenty of time to do that later."

"Slave driver," the oldest of them grumbled as he shifted away from the desk and let his boyfriend down.

"Lux and Marly wanted to see you when you got back, along with 'Lette and Pence. They're here now, so we should go see them. Where's Seifer, by the way? You two were attached last I saw you," the shorter blond asked, looking genuinely curious.

"He's over at the research center, but he's right here if I need him," Hayner said, tapping his temple.

"You sound batshit crazy to anyone who doesn't understand junction bridges, just by the way."

He rolled his eyes at Axel, though he could see his point. They were all crazy to the average civilian, though, so what was the point of pretending to be even vaguely normal? Following his old friend back out the door, they went to the Turks' break room, nestled into a large alcove near their offices and strictly off-limits to everyone else. The four mentioned were waiting there before their shifts, playing poker funnily enough. Luxord appeared to be winning by a landslide judging by the number of toothpicks next to his elbow.

Olette jumped up from the table as soon as she saw him, bright green eyes surveying him closely and coming to rest on his neck as she crossed the distance to him. The other three seemed to notice the marks at the same time, Luxord's pale blond eyebrow quirking up while his partner smirked like a cat. Pence seemed completely unfazed.

"Gods Hayner, is Seifer a vampire or something?" The petite brunette asked as she pulled his collar aside to gauge the damage.

"Well, using the technical definition of a vampire, I'm closer to one than he is because I can sap energy directly from people. He's just a possessive lover. These will heal soon enough."

"At least you two are together now, you make a cute couple," she said with an exaggeratedly sweet smile.

"We are not 'cute' 'Lette, we are two grown men in a relationship, not kittens."

"I think you're cute, so you're cute. Got it?" She grit out between her teeth, eyebrows drawn down hard.

"Right, of course. Whatever you say, Olette, just don't hurt me."

She smiled again, this one more subtle, and hugged him. While she'd always been the most mothering one of the group, she was also incredibly authoritative when she felt like it. When they were younger he used to always view the green-eyed girl putting her hands on her slim hips as a warning sign that something was about to go her way whether they liked it or not. Things had hardly changed now that they were older; she just got to boss more people around. He walked over to the table where the other three were sitting and slid into a chair next to Marluxia; he could tell it was with great mental effort the other avoided touching him immediately.

"Good to see you alive, kiddo. I wouldn't have bet against you surviving this long, but I sure as hell wouldn't have put good odds on it either. How is ordinary life suiting you?" Luxord asked, blue eyes sharper than he'd last seen them.

"I'll let you know as soon as I live a day of it. We've been working almost nonstop since we got out of the hospital. How about you two, having fun being officially recognized members of the force again?"

"It's good to be back at the station, work the same case too long and you get complacent, your skills rust like an untended knife," the bearded Turk analogized, jabbing his partner with his elbow as a cue to start saying something.

"So what did you think of my first attempt at fitting a suit to your boyfriend?"

"You are an evil, evil man Marluxia. Making someone I couldn't touch at the time look inappropriately attractive."

"I try my best, though it took Rufus's urging to convince Tseng to accept my alterations to his previously boring work uniform. Apparently he finds my style unprofessional, can you believe?"

"No, of course not Marly, you are the pinnacle of professionalism at all times…Which is why your left hand is resting on Luxord's inner thigh while at work, you are simply making sure his inseam hasn't changed since the last time you measured him, right?" He returned with a small smirk, noting the way the aforementioned appendage drew away quickly.

"Honestly though Hayner, are you settling in well with everything?" Pence piped up finally, giving him a small smile.

"It's harder to deal with learning how to control my magical abilities than it is to get used to being a person with a normal family and no crime ties. But I'm managing. I haven't killed anyone I didn't intend to yet, so there is that. Did level a building, but if memory serves that's standard operating procedure for us."

"If you don't demolish a few structures here and there you're doing it wrong, we aim to save the city the money for the explosives to do the same job," the black-haired man returned with a wry smile.

He hadn't noticed before, probably because the last time he saw Pence he had just woken from a coma, but the older man had lost some weight. As a kid he had always been chubby, something that didn't wear off much when he got into the academy and had to pass their physical tests. Judging by the broadening of his shoulders and the girth of his arms he'd started working out to trim off a little of the extra fat he'd always carried. He still had a bit of a gut, but he'd probably lost a good sixty pounds since he became a Turk.

"Have you been working out, Pence? You've lost weight since we were kids."

"Yeah, three hours a day since I joined the Turks. Kinda have to really, this job requires me to be a lot faster and stronger than the average cop. Olette lifts and runs with me too."

"Gods, you let someone as scary as her become more capable of damage? Are you insane?"

"No, I just know I'm powerless to stop her from doing whatever she sets her mind to, and for my health and safety I should avoid trying."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at them, muttering something about men. She sat back down along with Roxas and Axel, all of the Turks at the table starting another round of cards. Three hands in when he realized he'd been bluffing when everyone folded against him, Axel threw his cards at the sandy-blond man in frustration and Luxord commented that even he couldn't see through his ruse. Smirking, he merely replied that he'd had more practice at his poker face than most people.

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><p>Walking into the doors to the constantly sterile-feeling building, the high-adept class magic user strode up to the front desk and asked for Dr. Osmond. Tapping his fingers impatiently on the cold stainless steel that made up the piece of furniture, he reached through the junction bridge long enough to ascertain that his partner was still safe. It was stressful being separated from his other half for even a short period of time. Their codependency was bordering on ridiculous.<p>

"Seifer, how have you been since I last saw you? How is Hayner doing?" The lead researcher asked as he walked up, judging by the thick mana cloud around him he'd been pulled away from lab work.

"I'm good, thanks. Hayner is the reason I'm here actually, can we talk somewhere?" He responded shortly, disliking the openness of their current setting.

The older man nodded enthusiastically and led him to a room with no less than three security systems to be passed before entry was allowed. The massive metal door shut itself behind him, locking again, and he thought perhaps that this level of secrecy was excessive. Then again, considering the gravity of the things he needed to speak of, maybe it wasn't. It was likely the doctorate knew about the Heartless situation, a senior researcher of magic like him would have been included in the discussions. Even if not, he was junctioned to several Espers and Spirits and smart enough to understand what he was seeing.

"What particular issues have you come here to talk about? Is he handling his abilities well enough? I've noticed Hayner has been taking a great deal of crystals from our store, hopefully he isn't overdosing on mako."

"He's not overdosing that I'm aware of, but he's handling his abilities way too well. He does shit I'm pretty sure no one else knows is even possible."

"Can you describe any of these phenomena? You're quite knowledgeable about magic, I'm surprised he's capable of things you're not familiar with."

"He can use magic without reciting a spell, he can siphon all the mana out of a sorcerer-class junkie, and he converses with Ultima like he would with a normal person. She even talks through him sometimes, like an avatar."

"Magic without a spell has been theorized, but it involves drawing a lot of non-elemental mana and most people don't have a high enough affinity to get any amount of it into their bodies. I guess that would explain why he's been asking for so many null crystals. As far as his siphoning, is he alright? Drawing that much contaminated mana into his body isn't safe, especially since he hasn't fully developed his magic reservoir like you or I have."

"Hayner's okay, he doesn't seem to be reacting poorly to it yet. I'm keeping an eye on him though…What about the issue with Ultima? Have you ever heard of her or any of the highest level summons acting that way?"

He was quiet for several minutes, the sorcerer thoughtful. Brown eyes switched quickly back and forth as he considered the possible reasons for her actions or any other similar situations. Finally he reached inside his lab coat and pulled out a small, incredibly worn book so drenched in mana it actually glowed, obviously it was something he carried on him in the lab often.

"There are only thirteen of these books left and their existence is strictly denied by the Alliance, so don't tell anyone but the Turks what I'm about to explain to you. It's written in the language of magic, so I can only read about two-thirds of it, but it explains the events leading up to the end of the world. It's cautiously vague, too much information can interfere by making people lose hope in changing fate, but the Heartless are mentioned several times. By a different name, of course, but apparently they will completely devour our world if we don't stop them. They're being controlled by a being so powerful they could destroy all reality, currently trapped in some alternate dimension from which the Heartless originate. The most powerful Espers and Spirits will each choose a human champion to combat this being, if I were to guess, Hayner is Ultima's. There are other people or things necessary to win the battle for the fate of reality, but the words are impossible to understand since the language is so long dead and there's no kind of clue in our existing languages."

He blinked several times as he processed the information before asking, "So you're telling me you think Hayner has something to do with saving the world which is apparently ending sometime soon?"

"And you, of course. You're one of three people I know of who can handle Zodiark, and you're Hayner's affinity match, the paths of your lives are never going to diverge again unless someone kills one of you."

"So, what will you do when the war begins, Doctor?"

"Fight, comrade. I'm a sorcerer class mage, there's no way I'm going to hide behind reinforced walls in a lab when I could be saving lives. I know you don't like scientists all that much, but a lot of us want the same thing as you do, for people to be safe. We just have a different way of going about it. Some of my colleagues might be happy enough to ignore the world around them and treat people like test subjects to get their findings, but I can't stand idly by while people are getting hurt. Besides, if I was really cold-blooded I would have reported you a long time ago for being an unregistered High Adept and a past artifact smuggler."

"The fuck? If you can tell despite all the contamination of the labs, then how come no one else has noticed? I know there's at least one or two other sorcerer classes here. And how did you know about my past besides?"

"Too lost in their work to care about it. Your lack of registration doesn't affect them so they don't notice it. As for your smuggling, I work next to a police station, I have connections. I asked Tseng about you to determine whether you were dangerous or not, I needed to know how you came by your two summons. He said you were as under control as you ever get and that you didn't represent any threat to innocents."

"How about Hayner? Tseng seems to think he's a danger to himself and others right now, do you agree?"

"I know this isn't easy to hear, but I do think he presents a very significant threat to both himself, you, and the general populace. His abilities are advancing at a pace neither you nor he can handle, and even with Ultima to hold him together there's a chance he could lose control of himself. He's almost as powerful as you are, but with none of your years of training and discipline with your abilities. I can also tell he's very emotionally and mentally vulnerable, I think he'd have a hard time avoiding his breaking point without the added responsibility of thousands of lives at risk. I'm not saying he's actually going to hurt anyone, just that it's statistically feasible."

He sighed, knowing the doctorate was right. No matter how tough they were, everyone had a limit to what they could take before shattering, and it was a miracle he'd survived so far past his as it was. Hayner could be healed, but it would take a lot of time away from stress and danger that they simply didn't have, chances were the war was going to push him over the edge if his nightmares and the Heartless stalking him didn't. Hopefully his and Ultima's combined efforts would be enough to contain his splintered psyche long enough to prevent catastrophe.

Bidding the researcher a solemn farewell, he left quickly, eager to get back to Hayner. Running a hand through his hair to straighten it again he walked into the station, immediately pinpointing his other half's location and heading that way. Several sets of eyes landed on him as he entered the break room and he smiled when he realized they were all playing cards. It looked like he was acclimating just fine. And winning as well.

"Gods, he looks just as bad as you. Are you _trying_ to kill each other when you have sex?" Olette exclaimed immediately, looking accusationally between the two of them.

Snorting, he shook his head and sat down next to his partner, glancing at his hand. It was pretty piss poor, all he had was a King high, but all but Olette and Luxord had already folded. He had better bluffing skills than a professional poker player so it wasn't shocking that he had most of them fooled. At least for the moment he was distracted from overthinking the situation with the Heartless. Luxord won the hand with a pair of threes and the green-eyed woman threw her cards at him, furious over folding against his bluff.

"We'd better get to work before the boss finds us spending our shift playing cards. Come on, I'm driving, we've got to do some field work before any other progress can be made with the case," Roxas said, standing suddenly.

"Why can't I drive, Roxie?" Axel whined comically as he stood from the table as well.

"Because I want to get there alive, you maniac."

"By Ifrit, does no one want to have any fun anymore? You're a bad influence, Hayner."

Smirking as the two lovebirds continued their daily bickering he brushed against the mind of his companion as they walked out to the parking lot. He was surprisingly calm; apparently things had gone decently when he told Roxas about their relationship. It was shocking that the shorter blond had handled things remotely well, but chances were he'd been able to see their growing fondness for each other just as well as the others had, no matter how he tried to ignore it. He held the door open for his boyfriend when they got to the car, whom promptly rolled his eyes but got in anyway. Sliding in the seat behind Axel, he got the urge to smoke again; being this close to the pyromaniac it was hard not to get thoughts across their junction a few times by accident. Being in a car sharing minds with two other recovering smokers was not what he needed right now.

"So what's the case, Rox?"

"Three John Does found stabbed to death, which isn't really anything remarkable in itself, but their bodies were covered in mana residue. We're headed to the morgue first to see if we can identify what kind of artifact it came from, might give us a lead on who did it."

"Did you guys get in trouble, or is Tseng having mercy on us for our first case? Because this just seems tragically run of the mill," he commented, glancing over to the youngest blond.

Hayner was busy staring out the window as they drove, dark eyes taking in the details of the side of town he'd probably been to only very rarely. They had to pass through the lower class section of the commercial district to reach the morgue they were going to, challenging skyscrapers quickly replaced by squat supermarkets and small businesses where the owners lived above their shops. The crime rate here wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the main section of Twilight because there were fewer clubs and alleys for people to lie in wait in, but it still wasn't a fantastic place to live.

"I think the latter, I don't recall doing anything terribly perverse lately," the redhead replied; Seifer knew he was tapping his chin thoughtfully without even needing to look at him.

"Your past two cases have been incredibly dangerous, I think he's just trying to ease off you both a little, give you a case that may not require being shot at for once. Nice job with the missing kids by the way, Hayner; that was impressive deductive work."

"Thanks, I had a lot of time on my hands and nothing better to do with it," he replied with a nonchalant shrug, sounding just as distracted as he looked.

"How are you handling your magical abilities now that you know you have them?"

"I'd be dealing a lot better if they didn't exist at all and Ultima had never junctioned with me, then I wouldn't have to deal with the fucking nightmares."

"And the Heartless that attacked you would have seriously injured at least one of us if not both, and that junkie we took out could very well have killed us if not for you draining him. It's not all bad, chances are it'll save both our lives in the future as well," the pale-eyed man countered, knowing the situation was hard for his lover but hoping that if he could start seeing the good in it that it might get easier for him.

"Doesn't mean I have to like them yet. I want to be able to sleep without being attacked."

"Just how bad are your nightmares, Hayner? Axel and I have had them, but only a few and they were generally brief. Kairi and Namine have mentioned having one and two, and Sora and Riku seem to be having them too, but only as much as the rest of us."

"Every fucking time I fall asleep unless Seif puts me under."

From his vantage point he could see golden-blond eyebrows furrow as Roxas thought, seemingly upset by this new information. He knew he should probably eventually explain what Dr. Osmond had told him earlier, but now didn't seem like a fantastic time. It seemed like a better idea to break the news to Hayner alone in the event that he didn't handle the news that the fate of the world partially depended on him very well. No one could really be expected to handle that kind of pressure.

They arrived, giving him a welcome reprieve from the heavy air in the car, all four of them getting out of the vehicle and shutting the door in perfect time, giving the man smoking outside the building pause. It was a little creepy how in-tune Turks were with one another he supposed; whether they shared junction bridges or not they practically lived with each other. It wasn't hard to be on a wavelength with a group of people when you spent upwards of eighty or ninety hours a week with them. Axel took the lead into the building, immediately going to the room where the bodies were refrigerated. An employee was sitting in a rolling chair, reading the paper. Across the front page in large font a headline read "New Turk Rescues Kidnapped Children". Next to it was an opinion column that, judging by the title, was questioning just where Hayner came from that no one had ever heard of him before. Fucking journalists could keep their opinions up their asses where they belonged as far as he was concerned.

"Hey, we're here to check out those bodies you guys called about earlier?" The green-eyed detective began easily.

"You guys Turks?" He questioned gruffly as he set the paper down.

"Haven't you seen most of us on the front page of the newspaper enough to know what we look like? Do you honestly need the badge?"

"I like the badge."

"Still like it?" Axel prodded as he handed his proof to the man.

"Yep, I do. Here are the bodies," he said obviously as he pulled three of the drawers out, "And the possessions found on their persons are in another locker. They've already been dusted for prints and cataloged, you're free to look at them."

"Could you take me to their possessions?" The lithe blond asked, surprising his partner.

"_What's up Hayner? Any particular reason you want to break off from us so soon?"_

"_You guys have a lot more knowledge about magic than I do so I doubt I'll find anything you don't. Better to use my time in an area I'm more familiar with."_

He watched his boyfriend exit into a further room before turning his attention back to the task at hand, each of them studying a body. The residue around them was considerable, and the one he was working on was a novice magic user. The stab wounds themselves had no kind of magic remnants, so it wasn't a magicked weapon that caused the lingering mana. In fact he couldn't even recognize the source of it, it wasn't something he could recall having experience with, but at the same time it seemed a bit familiar.

"This guy has an arrow wound, who the fuck uses a bow and arrow these days?" Roxas asked, gesturing to a rounder wound in the man's shoulder.

"Good question, can you tell if it's older then the stab wounds, or happened at about the same time?"

"Definitely older, it looks like someone did a really shit job of healing it. The blood vessels were closed but the flesh was never knit back together. No reason to do that for a dead person."

"This guy was a novice, he could have cast the spell. Any of you have a clue what artifact this mana could have come from?"

"Not the slightest, I'm not sure what creates a residue like this that we don't already know about. It's not from materia or magicite unless someone invented something new," the shorter cop answered, frustrated.

"Hey, I think I might have a pretty good lead on what happened with these guys," Hayner said as he walked back to them, hands in his pockets, "Not something appropriate for a public setting."

"More than we have, I don't think we're going to get much more out of them, let's head to the car," Seifer returned, the other two nodding.

They left and it wasn't until several minutes later his partner decided to speak, dark eyes pensive.

"There wasn't much interesting about what the guys had, wallets with nothing but plastic in them, cigarettes, phones…But I noticed all three had a seven-pointed star carved into the bottom of the metal casing of their lighters. That's the sign for one of the east-side groups, this particular one specializes in artifact smuggling, called the Sevens. I get the feeling that they were mugged after being attacked by whoever caused that residue, either by typical thieves or by rival mob members. The trick is finding out who used magic on them, tracking them down, and hopefully getting them to explain what happened in exchange for amnesty."

"Any idea where we might go to find the unknown magic users?" Roxas quested, apparently satisfied with the rest of the information enough to move past it.

"I mentioned Vaan to you once or twice, I think? He's running with a pretty famous smuggler, they might know. The fact that they used an arrow is a pretty specific piece of information, should be easy to pin them down just from what. I can call him now if no one else has leads."

Their silence was answer enough and he pulled out his phone to call his friend. It was convenient to have someone on the team with such wide underground connections. The conversation with Vaan was somewhat long, and afterwards he laughed and shook his head, real mirth in his expression though it held the undertones of mischief. Something he'd heard had lightened his mood considerably, and likely solved some of their problems.

"Well, apparently the residue you found was from manufactured nethicite. Vaan, Balthier and Fran were stealing several shipments of rare artifacts bound for a nearby city's museum, and the men we found attacked them. To prevent the one man's magic from activating any of the powerful artifacts, Balthier used a chunk of it to nullify all magic in range, then Fran shot one with an arrow. By then they'd created a big enough distraction to escape with their prize," he explained with a small smirk.

"If those three men were tasked with stealing the artifacts and failed they could have been killed by their superiors. It would make sense to take their money and make it look like a violent mugging; if nothing else it would take suspicion off them for a few days or weeks until someone put it together. By that time the trail would be much more difficult to follow. Do you know anyone in that particular group, or someone who would know how to corner their weakest link?" Roxas continued, choosing the most likely explanation for their deaths with the new information.

"Unfortunately no, I didn't involve myself with the other end of the city at all. Hard enough to keep myself away from Corneo's dealings, no reason to get caught up in everyone else's."

"Understandable. We'll just have to investigate it for ourselves, see if we can lure anyone out. Think some rare artifacts being moved in a few days would be enough rumor to flush them out?" The older blond asked, pale eyes watching the other intently.

"Actually, I think the pirates that have repeatedly stolen their targets over several years would be better bait, especially since they can fight back. Vaan still owes me several favors over times I've saved his ass from getting caught by Corneo's men and as he's now involved with Balthier, that debt falls to him as well. Besides, being on the Turks' good side is generally a plus for high-profile criminals, isn't it?"

"Very much so, it's good to have the highest law enforcement on your side if you happen to operate in violation of it. I like Balthier and his crew, they don't kill innocents and just generally don't cause any problems other than stolen property, and that's someone else's problem. We could give a fuck about cat up a tree problems like thieves, unless they're in an organized crime ring that's for the grunts to handle," Seifer continued.

"So the cops actually do have a job to fail at, I was wondering. From what I've seen it seemed like their job description involves nothing but walking around with coffee and manila folders and shooting at me."

"Well now that you're a Turk you have full permission to shoot back if they try that again. For us deadly force is always authorized, though we try to avoid it."

"Not very hard though," Axel added with a devilish smirk, an expression he seemed to share with his older brother.

"So when are we going to spring the trap on the Sevens?"

"Vaan said they were going after a shipment of summoning materia that's coming into the city in an armored vehicle tomorrow night sometime between nine and ten. I asked him to send a message through the right people that they wanted to challenge the Sevens. Something to get them riled enough to show up, they won't be expecting us. We should probably try to leave them alive, kinda pointless to kill them for killing off their own guys. Did our jobs for us basically, especially since they were stupid enough to leave evidence."

"Most criminals think they're too smart to get caught. The ones that actually are intelligent enough to stay off our radar are few and far between."

"Or have become Turks," Roxas added without targeting him specifically.

He felt a familiar smirk slide onto his face, knowing if it wasn't for him quitting the smuggling business and joining the force Tseng would have caught him whenever he could be bothered. Seifer was a murderer after all, chances were if he kept on the same path he would have fallen in with an organization at some time and become a thorn in the Turks' side. It was odd to think if he'd have been a slightly different person one person in this car would probably be dead and the other two would be all too happy to kill him. He would have led Fuujin and Raijin down the wrong path as well, no matter what he did they'd follow him, even after voicing their disagreement they wouldn't abandon him. The idea that his continued existence and possibly the choice to join the Turks and fall in with this particular group of people was fate, controlled and pre-decided by something else, rubbed him in the worst way possible.

They were headed back to the station judging by the street names growing more and more familiar, probably to run their plan past one of the bosses. It wouldn't be terribly professional of them to just show up at the designated place tomorrow without letting anyone know what they were doing. Especially if things went south and there was serious collateral damage, which happened to be something that occurred a lot when they were involved.

"_I thought you said Vaan never picked up his phone," _he started off a conversation along their junction bridge easily.

"_He doesn't usually, but I guess after hearing about the shit that went down since I last saw him he was eager to make sure I really was still alive and a detective now. I guess Kytes has managed to prove himself useful enough to be allowed on the team now too. I just hope neither of them gets killed. Or Balthier for that matter, I think Vaan honestly loves the guy."_

"_Balthier is a classic heartbreaker, but never with a crew member. Maybe for once in his life he'll do right by someone."_

"_If not, what's the Turks' policy about shooting people we don't like who aren't innocents?"_

"_Try to avoid killing them unless they shoot first. Usually the knees are a good target."_

"_Good to know. If he hurts Vaan I'm definitely going to cripple him at the very least, nothing less than what he'd deserve for having sex with a seventeen year-old and then throwing them away."_

"_Secretly I love how violent you are when something pisses you off," _Seifer thought gently, finding his homicidal rage endearing in a twisted way. He agreed, of course, but he also assumed Balthier was smarter than something that cruel. The pirate slept with a lot of people, of course, but the vast majority were of a more appropriate age and he never saw them beyond that one meeting. If he was sleeping with a crew member something like ten years his junior chances were the platinum-blond street rat actually meant something to him.

The car's dispatch radio started buzzing with a call for backup; apparently Olette and Pence had gotten ambushed and were currently pinned down in an apartment building across town. The driver immediately changed course to head their direction, flipping the lights on and picking up speed as he frowned deeply. It was unusual for them to need help, or really for any of the Turks to manage to get in over their head. Tseng and Elena were exceptionally skilled at picking the right teams for cases and most highly dangerous situations were handled by at least four of the elite detectives. Perhaps the feisty brunette and her boyfriend had stumbled upon more intrigue than anyone expected.

They could hear guns firing and a few small explosions from what he guessed were the two younger Turks using spells to ward off attackers. This area was actually densely populated, large apartment complexes sprawling in between office buildings and a few smaller department stores. The particular building being currently assaulted was an upscale apartment complex, three stories tall. A lightning spell blew three windows out on the second floor as they ran to the entrance, showering the sidewalk with charred and melted glass. The corridors were devoid of people, several apartment doors left open after their occupants fled in terror.

Guns at the ready they avoided the center of the hallway that lead up to the severely damaged section of the complex, instead creeping along to each side. As soon as they entered the crumbling crime scene they found Olette, lying sideways pressed up against the wall. She glanced at them and quirked a tiny smile around the blood winding trails out of her mouth, her suit and the carpet below her stained a dark red. Her gun was still firmly clenched in her hand and he didn't doubt she was completely lethal even as she bled out.

Hayner immediately knelt next to her and started to heal her wounds, gesturing for them to find Pence. As much as he didn't want to leave his partner's side he knew that finding the other injured Turk was more important than standing around trying to protect two people who could fully handle themselves. The apartment appeared to be a suite containing at least three bedrooms, it was larger than he expected it to be and there were probably still a few antagonists if the dark-haired detective hadn't already left cover to help his girlfriend. The entrance was obscured from the rest of the apartment except the kitchen, a wall curving from the hallway to the end of the kitchen cutting off visibility completely until you walked far enough to the right to get into the living room.

There were several bodies strewn haphazardly in the main room that he had to step over to get to the hallway on the left that could be assumed to lead to some of the bedrooms, wracking his brain to try and remember if either of his coworkers had mentioned what kind of case they were working on. Taking the lead as had become second nature to him, he entered the first room on the left, a quick sweep told him everyone here was dead or not getting up any time soon. The curtains were on fire; this was the room the green-eyed woman had blown the windows out of with her lightning spell. As he attempted to enter the next room a bullet embedded itself in the door trim next to him. Acting on impulse he shot the already bloodied man in the head before looking around for any others. In the back of his mind he could sense Hayner's curiosity over the gunshots, but he seemed to relax once he didn't sense pain from Seifer's end of the link.

They finally found Pence, unconscious but alive, in the room at the very end of the hall. He moved into the room and cast several healing spells on his coworker, Axel moving past him. Grabbing him by one arm, the skinny detective heaved him to his feet as he stirred in reaction to the sensation of healing magic. Certain the redhead could handle him now that he had his wits about him enough to put one foot in front of the other, he turned back to where Roxas still stood in the threshold, arms crossed over his chest thoughtfully.

All at once he caught sight of the man with a gun pointed directly at the spiky-haired blond and without thinking he jolted forward and threw the other to the floor in front of him while instinctively aiming his gun and firing. He could distinctly hear two shots and was fully aware he was not the first of them as the world continued to move in a strange slow-motion he was all too familiar with as the adrenaline coursed through him. As he watched the lone gunman crumple to the ground with a hand around his throat where the bullet went through it he heard a gasp from Roxas. When he felt a warm, sticky feeling spreading on his chest accompanied by the feeling of drowning it didn't take a genius to know why. He was pretty sure regular healing magic wasn't going to fix a large-caliber bullet through the heart, it looked like the luck that had kept him alive up till now had officially run out. Ultima surged into his consciousness indignantly and he blacked out before he had time to wonder what exactly that meant.

* * *

><p>Hayner stopped mending a cut on Olette's forehead, the last of her several wounds, abruptly as soon as he couldn't feel the subtle feedback from Seifer's mind on the other end of their connection. Confused, he grasped after the other and the realization that his partner just <em>wasn't there<em> hit him like a train. His brunette friend caught on to his change of mood immediately, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him worriedly, and he could swear her mouth moved but he couldn't hear anything she might have said over the sound of blood roaring in his ears. Ignoring her, he stepped away calmly and began walking to where he assumed his boyfriend had gone with the other Turks, reaching into his left pants pocket for three of the four Light-element crystals he had with him. He'd intended to use them to summon Ultima in the event he ever needed to, but already the High Seraph was speaking the words to the spell into his mind, the weight of the amalgam on his chest suddenly doubling in gravity.

It wasn't something that had been done in at least half a century and to his knowledge never by someone who wasn't technically a mage. The amount of mana that was required by this particular spell was such that even someone like Seifer would struggle to handle the strain it put on their bodies if they could draw enough energy to attempt it. Tseng was going to reprimand him for putting his life in danger if the Chief could get ever the youngest Turk away from the authorities that dealt with violations of the laws regarding magic use. This wasn't something he should really be doing considering the risks, but he had the second most powerful scion at his back and he didn't have the emotional capacity for fear at the moment. Roxas was on the floor next to Seifer, still staring at him in shock as his blood seeped into the carpet; he wasn't particularly angry at his best friend for not doing anything, they all knew there wasn't anything a normal person could do right now. If it wasn't for Vaan he'd have to summon Ultima just to fix this, if he even could at this point in his training.

Kneeling next to his fallen companion's body he closed his eyes against the stuttering apologies he could sense coming from Roxas, hoping the other would get the hint that he should really just shut the fuck up. As if you could actually apologize for someone sacrificing themselves for you anyway, what the fuck. He could feel eyes on him as he started muttering the words to the spell exactly as his scion instructed him to, feeling both necklaces heat up from use. The crystals in his hand were fading to black one by one; by the time the last one was drained he felt like he was literally on fire, the molten magical energy raging unkindly against the confines of the body it found itself in. His heart was faltering under the pressure and the edges of his vision were reddening as he neared the end of the required words.

As the healing magic of the Life spell flowed outward he breathed deeply to keep from passing out. Several tense moments passed before Seifer gasped suddenly and coughed, pushing himself off the floor and staring blankly at his lover. The look was echoed by the other detectives, a glance around the room revealed varying expressions of shock and confusion, Olette having joined them at some point. She had her hands over her mouth as if she was afraid to breathe. He guessed it wasn't very often they saw a person literally come back to life. The sensation of having his partner firmly present in the back of his mind again was enough to bring him out of the strange, heady place he'd been before and he blinked a few times and had the sudden realization the world was in color.

"Could someone please explain to me what the fuck just happened?" The man with ice-colored eyes asked breathlessly, seeming more bothered by the fact that he was alive than that he had been dead.

"Life spell, you selfish asshole. You're not allowed to die on me, I thought that was clearly understood."

He opened his mouth like he was going to argue about how dangerous magic at that level was for any mage, much less someone who barely knew how to control himself, but thought better of it and said nothing. Instead he pushed himself to his feet and offered his partner a hand up and a wry smirk, like he found the whole situation darkly humorous. Hayner could hear sirens he didn't recognize from any first-responder vehicle he'd ever encountered before and assumed it was the people he really didn't want to have to deal with right now. Briefly he considered suggesting they all escape out the back and try to pretend this never happened, but these people had a radar tracking system, it wasn't like they would never find him. Besides, he was a detective with the lives of thousands, maybe millions in his hands if he cared to think of it, he should probably be a little more responsible than running away. He'd done enough running for one lifetime.

"Looks like our favorite people are here to arrest us, wonder who they'll try to pin the spell on this time?" He said, breaking the ice that had previously frozen the others in place.

"Probably you, since you have been brought in for breaking the law before. It'll be difficult to explain this one away to the MRO, huh?" Axel added as they started walking toward the exit, Pence able to move under his own power at this point.

"Are you entirely sure we can't just pull rank on them?" The brown-eyed blond joked hollowly.

"It's an utter tragedy that we can't, because honestly those bastards get in our way too often. I swear a few of them are still trying to figure out which one of us to pin any magic-related murders on. Just because a few really are our fault doesn't mean they _all_ are," Olette complained roughly, hands in her pockets and shoulders tense. She was upset over something, whether it was their welcoming committee or seeing one of her coworkers dead just a few minutes ago, he couldn't be sure.

"_Hey, are you okay?"_ The other asked, pale eyes on him as they walked side by side, shoulders brushing.

"_Not remotely. You just died, why the fuck would I be okay? I don't understand how you're fine with everything right now."_

"_Not the first time, I'm just starting to get used to it I guess. I'm sorry I upset you, thanks for bringing me back."_

"_You say that like anything else was an option at the time. I can't do this without you, Seif. I love you."_

"_Love you too Hayner, I'd never make you deal with this alone."_

"_Thanks for saving Roxas by the way, don't know if he'll ever acknowledge it so someone should probably show a little gratitude."_

They exited the building last of the group, Axel already flipping off the assholes in uniforms he got the feeling he'd learn to loathe. He caught sight of a detective's vehicle and was shocked to see Tseng and Elena exiting it. To begin with he didn't understand why they were both here together; they'd been alternating shifts for quite a while so one of them really should be sleeping right now. For another there was no need for them to be here unless it was regarding the spell he'd just cast and the fallout, the situation was clearly handled.

"One of you just set off our radar with a restricted spell, I'd like to know who," one of the Magic Restriction Officers asked, attitude instantly combative.

"That would be me," Hayner answered as calmly as he could, not willing to let this turn into a fight.

"We're going to have to ask you to come with us to answer a few questions, you _probably _won't be imprisoned but we have to determine the legality of your magic use," he added, tone of his voice indicating there was no asking involved.

He froze and internally began to panic when the man reached out and grabbed his wrist to drag him away in some sort of authoritative power-play. It was hard enough to deal with strangers touching him in a friendly manner, this was a move intended to intimidate and just for a second he was a kid being dragged around by the collar by his father's men again. Then there was a gun pressed to the other man's head held by an unwavering gloved hand and he snapped back to reality.

"I may allow you take my Turk in for questioning out of a charitable pity toward your miserable organization's obsession with our department, but you will under no circumstances touch him. If you do I'll have you arrested and held on charges of assaulting an on-duty police officer. Understood?" He explained carefully, voice smooth and dark like an oil slick.

The grip on his wrist was released and the man backed away with his hands up, cold terror in his eyes. Steeling himself before shutting off completely, he kept up a rapport with his partner during the ride over and continued up until someone walked into the hilariously movie-esq interrogation room he was placed in. Apparently Seifer was talking with Dr. Osmond over the issue, though how the man could help at the moment was beyond him he just assumed his boyfriend knew more than he did. At first he considered ignoring the man seated across from him in favor of staying inside his mind, but they would just drag this out more to spite him.

"So, Mr. Smith, can you tell me what spell you used just half an hour ago that alerted us to restricted magic use?"

"I cast a Life spell on my dead partner after he was shot through the heart doing his job."

"We checked your file, and you're not registered as a magic-user at all. How did you manage to avoid our exhaustive childhood and adolescent checkpoints?"

"I'm not a mage. I have an outstanding receptivity to mana in artifacts but no actual ability to gather it myself from the environment. You don't test kids without magical abilities for receptivity."

"Alright, as hard as that is to believe, I'll accept it for now. How did you, who apparently have no formal training in using your magical abilities, manage to use the highest restorative magic spell? You must have some artifact, but beyond that you shouldn't know the spell in the first place, it's been classified to only those allowed to handle it for almost a century. You could have died using that spell, I'm not sure if you're aware of the dangers."

"I'm fully aware that high-level magic could kill the user because of the strain, I don't know how I could be a Turk and not understand that. I know the spell because Ultima recited it to me. I'm junctioned to her."

"How did you come to junction to one of the most powerful magical beings when you have no innate magical abilities, and why would she help you revive a dead cop?"

"_Hayner, stop talking to him. I don't really have time to explain but you don't need to tell that prick anything else. Just wait a few minutes and I'll come and get you."_

He blinked in confusion at the mental request but was all too happy to comply. The sandy-haired man had always wanted the excuse to use the 'I'm not at liberty to say' line, especially to an asshole. After a few more refusals the MRO officer had apparently had enough of his shit and crossed the distance between them, claiming he needed to confiscate the two artifacts he had pending further investigation. The second he reached out toward Hayner's chest he was sent back with enough force that he slammed into the wall behind him, the Scion's gem radiating a heat intense enough it bordered on painful.

"I wouldn't suggest trying that again, I don't think she likes you."

"Your boss isn't here to rescue you, Mr. Smith, I assure you that we are fully capable of containing you here until you forfeit magical artifacts I'm certain you don't have clearance to carry."

His lip curled back in a snarl he glared at the man and seriously considering decking him if he came near again. Standing as the officer made a move to do just that, he backed away and sincerely wished he had some sort of violent recourse that didn't involve jail time. The other man grabbed him by the front of his jacket and had just caught hold of the cord that carried the magicite that Vaan had given him when the door swung open. Seifer stepped through and his pale eyes narrowed immediately, grabbing the magic restrictions officer by his collar and pulling him away from Hayner enough to land a nasty punch in his stomach. Two men in black sunglasses and suits not unlike the Turk's entered the room behind him, faces impassive.

"Don't _ever_ touch my partner, you twisted fuck."

"The hell is going on here? You're not allowed to be in here, and you can't take him out of our custody until we damn well let you."

"Mr. Smith is so far out of your jurisdiction not even your superior will be allowed to so much as speak to him. From this point on any and all action you take to hinder or harm him or any other Turk or persons associated with them will be seen as directly antagonistic to the Alliance of Cities and could be considered tantamount to treason. Until you have been informed otherwise you are not to speak of anything Mr. Smith or I have said to anyone," one of the other men said as he held up a badge the youngest of them recognized as belonging to the Agents of the Alliance.

His boyfriend took him by the arm and led him out with an apologetic glance, though what precisely he was sorry about in this situation wasn't clear. The other two were at their backs as they wandered their way out of the building and into the dark. Once outside the men still didn't take their sunglasses off, but once they walked into a shadow he understood why. Their eyes glowed a pale blue color; he had to presume they were junctioned to an ice-element spirit or scion and by extension to each other. Hayner didn't know a ton about the Agents, just that they did pretty much whatever the fuck they wanted and no one but the heads of the Alliance outranked them. Definitely a group he wanted to be on good terms with.

"So, anyone care to explain what's going on?" He asked, feeling incredibly awkward.

"Dr. Osmond explained the situation to us and we came to get you before one of the MROs tried to take Ultima's artifact away from you or gained information that would require us to silence them," the other agent answered, and it was here he realized they spoke with the same personality-specific intonations. As far as he could tell they were constantly in the state in which they could share all their senses, maybe the bleeding had caused their disparate personalities to coalesce when they were like this.

"Why was it so important that you prevented them from taking her summon gem, and what information could they have possibly learned from me that would be of that importance?"

"If Ultima ever thought you were in serious danger of losing her artifact she'd have destroyed that entire building and everyone in it. You're her champion, she cares about little else but the survival of the champions and that each one maintains ownership of their respective artifacts. As far as the information, anything could have been potentially dangerous, but most of all the subject of your dreams. The information those who have visions are privy to is not something anyone else needs to know right now, until the Alliance has a better grasp of precisely what we're up against. You've been having more visions than anyone else affected, and therefore are a person of particular interest for the Agency, which is why we were able to arrive with such expedience. We have prior clearance to do anything and everything necessary to keep you out of the hands of people like the MROs."

"I…What?" He asked haltingly, certain he had more questions now than he did before the man began talking.

Two women in similar attire approached them as they continued to walk along the sidewalk to whatever their destination was; the brown-eyed man assumed they were going to their cars. The blond woman was slightly shorter than her brunette partner, it was easier to tell them apart than it was their male counterparts. It was to the point in the conversation that he wished they would introduce themselves.

"Don't worry about the particulars too much, Hayner. We're on your side and we're here to help," the brunette said before handing him his phone and guns that had been confiscated earlier.

"Thanks, I guess. Do you guys have names, or?"

"Maybe later we'll be allowed to disclose that to you, but for now you'll just have to refer to us as agent Shiva or agent Odin."

"And since your minds are in a constant state of full junction I'm just supposed to consider each pair of you as the same person? There are so many social rules involved with magic that make no fucking sense."

"Only because you weren't introduced to them when you were younger, otherwise they'd make sense to you," Seifer stepped in finally.

"That's like saying if I was told the sky was made of jellyfish often enough at a young enough age I'd believe it despite the obvious nonsensicalness of it," he returned dully.

"We have a word for that, it's called culture," the scarred blond quipped back cheekily, though he did have a point.

"I hate to mention this, but before we drive you back to the station we need to have you brought into our Twilight headquarters and debriefed. It won't take very long, promise," the blond Odin operative said with an apologetic smile.

"Well so long as you don't lock me up in an interrogation room alone for half an hour I'm okay with that."

"We don't work like that, Hayner, I can assure you."

He leaned into Seifer once they finally got in a car, the partners apparently traveling in two different vehicles. The older detective gave up any pretense and pulled his partner into his lap, kissing him gently. It was quite and apprehensive and terrifying, but Hayner leaned into it nonetheless because this was happening no matter what they did. They might save the world but they didn't seem able to change it. Funny how that worked.

"So are all Agents perfect affinity matches for their partners, or just the four of you?" The blue-eyed man asked suddenly, looking up at the two women in front of them.

"All of them are. Affinity matches can spend more time in shared space through a junction safely than normal people. We could be like this all the time if we wanted to, but after a point the loss of self can be dangerous. As it is, if one of us dies while we're sharing mindspace, both of us will. The same for you two, you should probably be a bit more careful. If you die now you'll never get to be Agents."

There was the lilt of a smile in the last line, the implication that they knew a great deal more than either of their passengers did. He didn't detect malice from them, just a great deal of insider knowledge few other people had.

"What do you mean by that, planning on recruiting us?" Seifer pressed, pale eyes curious.

"Of course. You're particularly exceptional individuals with, how did our boss put it, 'Amazing drive to do what is right regardless of the legality of it, impressive magical abilities, and a future paved with the bodies of truly evil people'. He loves graphic imagery. You can stay with the Turks as long as you'd like, of course."

"I dunno, it would mean I could legitimately wear sunglasses at night and inside, might want to switch careers," Hayner offered, attempting to have a sense of humor for once.

"But then I'd have to share my head with you all the time on the job and we'd never get anything done," his partner responded gamely.

The women in front of him laughed in unison, clearly understanding what he meant by that. He smiled a little bit, much happier to be in a car with them than a cold room with a table, two chairs, and a man who looked like he'd love to crush Hayner. He wondered if Tseng let the MROs take him simply to force the hand of the Agents; it definitely seemed like a reasonable possibility. Otherwise there wasn't a lot of reason for the Chief of Police to allow this to happen, he outranked the officers. The car stopped and he tried to get up, only to be held down by his partner. Seifer, of course, insisted on carrying him into the building. No one so much as batted an eye and he really didn't mind that much, he was pretty fucking exhausted after the events of the past two hours. If every shift was like this he needed more vacation.

They followed the four agents through several security checkpoints, digging further into the building before taking an elevator down three levels. When they got out, the first thing he noticed was a capsule of some sort containing a man, probably in his early twenties, apparently in a stasis. He had spiky black hair and boyish features and seemed completely unresponsive to the world around him. Walking around the capsule, they headed through another set of doors into a corridor, then turned left into an office with a single man behind a dark wooden desk.

"Mr. Almasy, Mr. Smith, it's good to finally meet you. Please, have a seat," he said, gesturing to two chairs pushed together in front of his desk.

He was in his early fifties, black hair greying at the temples, and his face was all hard lines and angles. There was a certain calm about him that made Hayner think of Tseng, that unflappable coolness that men like the Wutaian detective radiated in waves. It was easy to see that he'd lived a hard life, the hint of a scar and the stress wrinkles on his face mapping the difficulties he'd faced. Despite all this, he was relaxed, almost informal in his smile. They sat side by side in the chairs, Seifer remaining present in the back of his mind.

"First names, if that's acceptable here. It's incredibly awkward to answer to a last name that isn't yours," Hayner says easily.

"Of course, Hayner. I do know how that can be, I've been a Smith once or twice. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alive? More than that, couldn't really tell you. So far today I've had to rescue my friends from a shootout, my partner died, and I was interrogated and assaulted by an MRO. It's been a very sub-par day."

"Well put. I do apologize for the incident with the magical restrictions officer, I assure you it won't happen again. Seifer, are you alright? Dying can be quite a shocking experience."

He smirks, and it only looks a little forced, "I'm getting used to it. Can I ask a question? Since we're mincing words and all."

At the nod, he continues, "Who was that in the stasis chamber? Must be someone pretty important."

"Part of someone pretty important, to be precise. The explanation would take far too long, but understand that the stasis is necessary, they're not…functional, as they are."

"I'm guessing it has something to do with the Heartless?"

"Correct. I understand you two are particularly well-versed on the subject, having encountered the first scout found in Twilight. I need to know everything you do."

"I've been having these dreams lately, about fighting the Heartless…Most of them take place on a large battlefield covered in fog, but the last one was different. It's hard to explain, but it was basically in a void. There was a figure there that never coalesced into a single, tangible person, but instead kept switching between several. They seemed to be female and ridiculously powerful magic-wise, but other than that I couldn't tell you much about them. Uh, we…weren't winning."

"Who was we?"

"Seifer, a guy named Squall, and myself. I didn't see anyone else but that doesn't mean they won't be…weren't there," he amended finally.

"Interesting, we haven't collected any reports similar to that yet. We're still trying to figure out what makes you so different from the others, you seem to be having more visions than even the keyblade master, which is puzzling."

"The who? The only person I've seen fighting with a key was Kairi."

"One of her friends, Sora, is the keyblade master. They've been dealing with the Heartless for a lot longer than you have; Destiny Islands was one of the first areas hit, and the only one to have survived. Took a great deal of bribery to keep that story from getting out to the public since the vast majority of the population survived. Has Dr. Osmond spoken with you about the matter of your Esper?"

"Not directly, but he talked to Seifer and I kind of inherited the information that way, why?" He responded, ignoring the shocked look he got from his other half; it wasn't like he intentionally stole it.

"Well, the same way the Espers choose their champions, the keyblades, which are a sort of enchanted weapon, pick their wielders. Sora is their master, or the most powerful wielder. This is, you could say, an event that has been eons in the making. The apocalypse, during which time mankind must contend with the darkness that has filled their hearts for centuries. It's been prophesized that one day someone will find the power to harness the Heartless, the physical manifestations of that darkness, and turn them into an army to destroy the human race."

"Fantastic," Seifer said, and if his sarcasm was any thicker it would have literally dripped onto the floor.

"It is an unfortunate circumstance, but at the very least the Espers, Spirits, and the Gods that created them have had a great deal of time to prepare for it. As much as the Heartless are our own fault, we haven't been left alone to deal with them."

"Why would they recruit so few people to the cause though? Do they really think a handful of people is going to be enough to stop this war?" The blue-eyed man pressed, mouth a hard, grave line.

"You only say that because you're not aware of the scope of this yet. Hayner and yourself are only two of the center pieces of a puzzle larger than anyone really knows. Everyone you've ever met, every friend you've ever made or person you killed, all of them are pieces as well. Along with all the people you haven't met yet, the people who will be supporting units in the war, the thousands and thousands of men and women who are going to and already have begun to fight and die to make sure you and your cadre make it out alive long enough to destroy whoever is controlling the Heartless. Chances are before the end of this more than twenty percent of the population is going to be fighting for their lives, and as many as ten percent are going to fail."

Doing a quick mental calculation, he suddenly really, really needed a cigarette. The craving was almost too much to take, the sensation altogether too similar to the need for oxygen when he was drowning in his own blood. He was talking about the loss of millions of lives, numbers too large to even comprehend. The woman they'd taken the fighters to really was being optimistic, and as much as he'd like to think he'd become numb to the idea, he wasn't. Couldn't ever be.

"Does that last number include us, too?" Seifer asked darkly, eyes hardened and brittle like frozen steel.

"That I can't say, but I also don't think I need to ask whether you're willing to lay down your lives for the good of mankind."

"It's not like we'd have a choice regardless," Hayner mumbled bitterly, earning a worried look from his boyfriend.

"Unfortunately no, sometimes we're born into roles we have to perform."

"Is there anything else we need to know?"

"We'll be giving you a phone with a direct line to me in the event you need to discuss something important, such as a dream with grave portents or another Heartless attack. I'll also have you linked in with team Odin and team Shiva so you can work together instead of just having them lurking within a few miles' radius of you."

"Linked does sound a bit better than lurking, thanks," the smaller detective answered, slightly relieved he'd have backup in case an MRO went after him again.

They were both set up with communicators that operated through magic to link them in on an almost telepathic level with the two sets of agents, and a cell phone to reach the Director with. When asked how exactly the communicators worked he got various degrees of handwaving and the basic explanation that by using mana they could connect to the minds of their intended targets in a way similar to a junction bridge. He could only guess they didn't know the particulars because it was probably not their tech. The very idea reeked of semi-divine intervention and if he wasn't fairly convinced it was benign he'd be a lot more unsettled than he was. Seifer didn't seem even mildly wary, but a look below the mask he put on for other people told his lover that he really was bothered by everything that was happening. Their illusion of control was spinning away faster than they could accept.

"Do you require transportation to your station?" One of the Shiva agents asked, demeanor just as cold as usual. Hayner had to assume at this point it was par for the course when you were junctioned through an ice elemental, otherwise he was stuck thinking the agents were neurotically stoic.

"Yeah, it's kind of a long walk," he replies, knowing that it really wasn't much of a question because they don't even know where they are, much less how to get back to the station from here.

With a glance back at the man in the pod, a name suddenly comes to mind and it's probably creepier than most of the things he's known but shouldn't so far, "_Vanitas_."

The two agents freeze and turn back to him, cocking their head in probably the largest show of emotion they've given him yet, and Seifer looked at him with minor confusion as well. He gets it, he shouldn't know this shit and it weirds people out when he does, but it's not like he can stop it. Keeping his mouth shut won't help either because he's been bleeding into his partner something awful lately and he knows any of that information wouldn't be any different. As far as he can tell the only way to get all of this to go away would be to sever the junction with Ultima, which would probably kill him. If he's going to kill himself he's sure there are less painful ways to do it.

"That's highly classified information, so try to keep it to yourself. This person doesn't even exist to anyone outside of this operation and the few like you who have been deemed important enough to have security clearance."

"Got it, I don't think anyone needs another reason to label me as mentally unstable anyway."

At this point he probably had enough psychoses to be committed five times over, which was roughly two more than the average Turk. He belatedly realized there was no psychological exam involved in reaching his position, but considering their job description crazy was not only inevitable but the only way to survive. There were no sane people who would sign up for what they did. If the level of danger didn't turn them away, the frequent ruthless murder requirement would. He wondered if it made them bad people. Logically killing anyone should make you, if not evil, a terrible person. Hayner didn't enjoy murder, he loathed it and he had to assume his coworkers did as well, but he still felt almost nothing when he did it. He was so desensitized to death and dismemberment that causing it barely affected him so long as it was his or someone else's life on the line. It seemed to be a recurring theme in a lot of the population of the city, because people called them heroes for doing it. Maybe this was how genocide started, a blanket justification for murder so long it was the 'good guys' doing it.

"_You really, really need to stop thinking. The only genocide we might commit is against the Heartless, and they're not humans."_

"_But they're part of humans, aren't they? The darkness in people's hearts."_

"_The worst part of humanity. They're even worse than the people we put bullets in. Worse than the Don, worse than the darkest scum we can dig up. All they are is hunger and bloodlust, and unlike humans they can never be sated."_

"_Do you wonder at the kind of sentient being that could be so consumed with evil that they could control these…things? They don't just want to take over the world, they want to kill every human being in it in brutal ways."_

"_Don't think I could comprehend it even if I did think about it."_

Hayner finds he has to agree with his boyfriend; he understood evil on an intimate level but even he couldn't grasp the level of malice required to unleash the Heartless on the world. Maybe it's good that he can't, because that probably means he's still human. Sometimes he doesn't feel like he is. Coming out of his thoughts, he notices the car begin to slow and finally stop.

"We've arrived at your destination," the Shiva operative that is in the passenger seat announced with dry obviousness.

He can sense that his counterpart wants to make a joke about it, but it would be completely lost on the agents so he declines to, simply getting out of the vehicle and offering a quick thanks before shutting the door. Climbing out himself, the brown-eyed detective felt mildly comforted to be back to what he was quickly beginning to think of as a second home. The vehicle left once they were both near the entrance, disappearing into traffic. Walking in the front doors, he considered whether their entrance to the building actually halted time because once again everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

"Are you alright, Hayner? You've been gone a long time, we were worried the MROs had done something we'd have to kill them all for," Roxas asked once they reached the lunch room, walking up to hug his friend.

Hayner didn't mind the contact at all, especially because there was always that moment of hesitation before arms encircled him, a chance to say he wasn't okay with touching at the moment. It was just one of those considerations his close friends gave him that no one else would. He should be okay with them just going for it, but he's not okay with any physical contact he doesn't have a choice in, and as far as they were concerned he didn't have to be.

"I'm fine, the Agency stepped in. That's where we've been for a while."

"The fuck are the Agents in on this for? Did you guys do something really bad and not tell us?"

"No, it's not that at all…We'll explain later, not really a mid-shift conversation."

The smaller blond looked confused and suspicious, but let the subject drop because he understood when to let things go. Their job hinged hugely on discretion, and besides, Roxas had the benefit of the years of practice he got from merely being friends with the son of the most infamous mob boss in Twilight.

"Pence and Olette wanted see you, they're in their office, you should go reassure them that they don't need to murder anyone."

Nodding, the brown-eyed man headed past him to find his other friends, still slightly worried about them after everything that had transpired. He could only assume his boyfriend and Roxas could be left alone for a few minutes without shooting each other, it was the least they could do.

* * *

><p>Watching his companion's retreating back, he frowned. He still needed to address the fact that Hayner had managed to get thoughts stored fairly deep in Seifer's psyche without trying, and didn't even tell him about it. At least he seemed to be taking it decently, or was saving his mental breakdown for when they got home. Turning his pale eyes back to Roxas, he wondered why the spiky-haired man had so conspicuously gotten the two of them alone, hoping that it wouldn't turn into a fight. There was a limit to how much shit he'd take from the shorter blond and when he was pushed beyond that he wasn't above throwing a few punches.<p>

"As much as it pains me to say it, thanks for saving my life back there. I owe you one."

"Any time, Rox," he answered, more than a little shocked that the younger detective would actually acknowledge it.

"But next time, make sure you don't get yourself killed in the process, amateur," he spat without any venom, clearly just trying to make this less awkward.

"I'll work on that, pipsqueak," the larger man returned evenly, ruffling his hair just to be as annoying as possible while he could still get away from it.

"Bastard. Hey, do you…Have you-Shit I don't know how to ask this. What am I to you?"

He realized that the younger Turk was being deadly serious, now wasn't a good time to joke around, "You're like a really irritating, stupid, and angry younger brother. You piss me off, but in the end I have to love you because you're family, no matter what."

"That's pretty deep, coming from you."

"I can see right through your backhanded compliments, you can't get enough of me you little shit."

"I definitely can, and I have," he huffed as he turned and walked away into his and Axel's shared office.

Shaking his head, he headed toward his counterpart, determined to get him alone for a second to talk about at least a few of the pressing issues they hadn't gotten to discuss yet. He should probably dust off his office anyway, he doubted that anyone had bothered it since he started the Don Corneo assignment. It felt forever ago, and he didn't even remember exactly how many weeks ago that day was anymore. Just keeping the current and future timelines together was struggle enough. Knocking on the door, he pushed it open, to find his boyfriend sitting on Pence's desk, talking to the two detectives behind it. It looked like both of them had cleaned up and changed clothes, something he should consider doing unless going around with a blood-stained shirt was suddenly acceptable.

"Hayner, mind if I talk to you for a moment?" He asked, leaning against the threshold with the same easy grace he would if this was his own home, because in a way it was.

"Yeah Seif, no problem," he answered outwardly, dark eyes and swirling, enigmatic thoughts betraying concern.

Offering his coworkers a nod, he tugged the younger man into a kiss before leading him into Seifer's office, their office. Shutting the door behind them after flicking the lights on, he turned to his counterpart for a moment, and decided to try and do something while they talked; he needed to change his shirt and jacket anyway and it seemed incredibly confrontational to corner his boyfriend in an office and grill him.

"How much of my conversation with Dr. Osmond did you pick up on, and why didn't you talk about it with me? You should know better than to think I'd be upset, I know you can't help it," he started as he tugged his jacket off and tossed it on the desk carelessly.

"All of it, basically. I'm…not okay with it, to be honest, but I'm past the point where I think I can do a damn thing about it. I guess it's better than just being a nobody, seems like a lot of them are going to die, and there's no Esper or Spirit to bail them out. In some respects we're lucky."

"That's an unusually upbeat way to look at it," Seifer replied as he unbuttoned and peeled off his shirt.

"It's hard not to be upbeat when we're alone and you're stripping."

Seifer let out a short bark of laughter as he grabbed another shirt and jacket out of a small closet in his office; it was something they all had, a closet for replacement clothes in the event they completely ruined theirs on duty. He really wanted to fuck his boyfriend right here, on his desk, but it wasn't really the time or place. Just because Roxas and Axel did it on a frequent basis didn't mean it was acceptable for people in their position.

"You going to be okay then, or are you saving the nervous breakdown for when we get home?"

"I'll be alright; we won't have time for me to flip out for a while, judging by the looks of things. The second we let our guard drop, we're going to get killed. I'm not losing you again, especially not because of my own weakness. At least it seems like it'll be a little while before any of this becomes a serious issue. By the general attitude of everyone I'd say at least a month. I think even I'd know if the war was going to begin tomorrow."

"To be honest, I think you would be the first to know. You seem to be ahead of everyone else," he answered, buttoning his shirt up absently.

"I guess you're right. It's on me to warn everyone too then, by extension. But no pressure, right? And here I thought putting the Don in prison would be the hardest thing I ever did. Then again, I wasn't planning on living past that."

"Are you glad you did?" The older blond pressed, thinking it was probably a valid question at this point.

"So long as I have you, yeah. The nightmares, the fighting, the war…None of it really matters so long as we both survive. The Turks too, but I've heard we're notoriously difficult to kill, so I'm not worried about them."

"It is hard to kill people who come back from the dead."

"Pretty much impossible, really."

"Think either of the bosses have been briefed on what we're doing tomorrow?"

"Knowing Rox and Axel, probably not. We should check, I'd imagine they'd be pissed if we went off and did our own thing without even telling anyone about it. Especially if someone got hurt."

"More an issue of when we get hurt, and how badly. There isn't much uncertainty when it comes to the Turks. You should worry more about Vaan and Kytes getting seriously injured, they're not as used to combat."

"They're a lot tougher than you give them credit for. They might be young, but they've lived on the streets a good portion of their lives. Doesn't take long to learn how to take hits out there. I'm sure they'll be able to hold their own just as well as you or I can. Speaking of which, are we planning on apprehending the Sevens, or just killing them all?"

"Apprehend if possible, like you suggested there's no reason to kill them for doing our job for us. They're not big-time so it shouldn't be hard to knock a lot of them out. Chances are good we can get at least a few to testify against everyone else. Several counts of first and second degree murder, not to mention a laundry list of trafficking offenses, should put them all in prison for ten or more years. We try not to rack up body counts when we don't have to, and this is a situation in which it's not necessary. We can lay a trap for them and incapacitate them before they pose an immediate threat to our lives. In situations in which we're ambushed or they're just no safe way to apprehend them, it's usually better to put a bullet between their eyes. Hostage situations, for example, are kill on sight as soon as the chance presents itself."

"Do you ever think we're wrong to pass judgment on the lives of others? We hold our own lives and the lives of innocent people above those of people we deem criminals, and while that's culturally acceptable, aren't we just a few neuroses away from serial killers? Do you ever question what the Turks do?"

"All the time. I didn't do it so much before I met you, but after…I realized that not everyone involved in organized crime is bad, or even wants to be there. You're an incredibly rare case, but there are still kids out there who are only doing it because it's what they have to do to survive or protect the people they care about. The world isn't just black and white, and I always knew that, but after seeing what you did despite your position in the mob, I understood that there were a lot more shades of grey than I originally thought possible. It's not right for us to play gods with the lives of people on the wrong side of the law, but there's not much we can do about it. You remember when you asked me if we're good people doing bad things, or bad people doing good things? I still don't have an answer for you, and I don't think anyone really does. All I know for sure is that if we stop doing our jobs, innocent people are going to die."

The other frowned, dark eyes thoughtful. He had a point, they were glorified serial killers, and exceptionally efficient ones at that, but Seifer wasn't about to admit defeat in the face of the questionable morality of what they did. Killing was wrong in any situation, but sometimes the lesser evil was the only way to protect the world. Just as soldiers had to kill people to protect their countries against others who probably wanted nothing more than to do the same. In the field, he didn't have time to consider that the person pointing a gun at him was a human being, all he could do was shoot and hope to live through the experience. That probably made him a bad person, or at the very least conditioned to be less than human, but someone had to do it and he just happened to be capable of saddling that burden.

"I guess it doesn't warrant worrying about too much. There's not an answer, the best we can do is try to keep as many people alive as we can, good and bad. Even if it involves killing people."

They left the office and knocked on the door to Tseng's, getting the call to come in. The black-haired man hung up the phone on whoever he was talking to for the moment, looking at them for explanation.

"Did Roxas or Axel explain what we're doing tomorrow for the case, or did they forget again?" Seifer asked, stoic.

"Neither of them has spoken to me on the topic, did you find anything out?"

"The murders seem to have been perpetrated by members of the Sevens gang, and the residue was from manufactured nethicite, used by Balthier and his crew when the three men attacked them. We're laying a trap for them tomorrow, using the very same pirates. If all goes to plan it shouldn't be hard to arrest a good chunk of them."

"Will the lives of Balthier and his crew be in danger?"

"They're stealing magical artifacts, so not really any more than they would be regardless of the Sevens, we'll protect them as best we can."

"More reckless than I would advise, but less so than I'd expect from the four of you put together. I approve, good luck. Try not to bring down too many buildings this time, it's beginning to get difficult to cover up and there are certain laws against it."

"We'll do our best, Chief, in the meantime, try to get some rest?" Seifer suggested, genuinely concerned by the circles under the man's dark eyes.

"And you should try not to die so much, Seifer. That's twice now, isn't it?" Tseng asked, watching him levelly.

Nodding and shifting self-consciously, he got the older detective's point. Everyone was off their game lately under the stress of the situation, and if he had actually been in the right mind he wouldn't have let his guard down and gotten killed. The wutaian man wasn't blaming him for the incident, merely pointing out that no one was taking particularly good care of themselves at this point.

"Be careful, both of you. On a side note, if you're not doing anything else this shift, Marluxia and Luxord are working a difficult case, they might like the help."

Taking his advice, they sought out the other cops, catching them as they headed out to the parking lot. Apparently they were working on solving another mass kidnapping of mages, this particular incident spanning a larger age range. It was hardly surprising the Chief wanted them to help out, chances were the two cases were related, and if they were they might be able to figure out what exactly the group that kidnapped them wanted. The junkie they'd captured had proved unhelpful, kept largely in the dark and fed mako to keep him complacent. They were all too happy to have the extra help, besides the fact that they seemed to pretty much adore the pair of them.

"Did I hear the other kids right, you die today Almasy?" Luxord asked, glancing at them in the rearview.

"Yeah, shit happens. Are you actually surprised, Lux?"

"Nope, just what I'd expect out of someone like you. It's a bad habit to get into though, maybe you should pick up smoking again instead of making an addiction out of kicking it."

"I'll take that to heart, old man."

"Oh fuck off Seifer, I'm not old. Don't be jealous just because I might actually live to see thirty."

"You've reached that point in your life where you have to start counting backwards?" Hayner chimed in.

"Kids these days, right Lux? Hey Hayner, can you use silence yet? I know Seifer can, but if things get nasty I'd like to know you can handle yourself alone against the vics. We have it on good authority at least some of them have been convinced to join the group and work for them, though we don't know if it's by choice or not. So until we do know, we can only silence everyone involved and bring them all in to be identified," the pink-haired man explained.

"Yeah, I know how to use it. I assume killing is strictly off the table then?"

"Strictly is a strong word when someone is trying to burn you alive, so if you absolutely have to, go ahead. If anyone is that into killing a cop there's something wrong with them in the first place," Marluxia reasoned, a dark look on his face.

"Point. So what side of town are we headed to? Somewhere abandoned, I'm guessing?"

"Even better, an upscale apartment complex on the nice side of town. Can't level it, and I assume can't cause a ton of damage either."

"Whoever is in charge of this has a lot of cash to spend and doesn't deal with any of the dirty work themselves then. Why would they keep the kidnapped mages there with them, in that case?"

"Not sure, but if this lead turns up fruitful we should be able to find out. Or we could be heading right into a trap. Hell, could be fucking both, we are the Turks after all, we make the best out of any terrible situation. Should only be facing a max of five non-magic users, and even if all of the vics fight us it'll be eleven-on-four. If it gets bad we can call Reno and Rude for backup, they're about twelve blocks away."

"_No dying on me this time, Seif, please."_

"_I'll do my best not to, and same to you."_

He had a feeling things would be alright, they had some element of surprise, and he didn't plan on splitting up with his partner at any point beyond seeking cover. Ideally they'd come out with minor injuries, but ideal wasn't usually a word involved in their mission reports. If no one went into a coma it was considered a pretty good day. They'd arrived, the group as a whole getting out and entering the building through the back door. From there they split up, the ringleader apparently owning two entire floors of the ten floor apartment building. It was going to be a challenge managing both levels, but they were always nearby in the event the other group needed help.

The first person they encountered came at them with a knife, Seifer silencing him and his partner disarming and knocking the assailant unconscious. The other two lacked any magical abilities, so he shot them in the legs and put them to sleep. It was unusually poorly guarded for a headquarters, which set him on edge. No one that had decent enough connections to have branches was this sloppy. As they entered the main suite he understood why, suddenly finding himself on the floor and cold with the sensation of sealed magic. Someone with considerable knowledge of magic had set a silence trap for them in the hallway, and they'd walked right into it.

"_You okay, Hayner?"_

"_Silenced, but not hurt. Seems to be a Turk-specific trap. We've still got our guns; won't help if someone has a protect spell on but it's something."_

They picked themselves off the carpet and pulled out the aforementioned weapons, Seifer beginning to think the other's nine was actually going to come in handy now. Maybe he did know what he was doing when he brought it along. The large central room was empty and clean, looking barely lived in. A single man walked in slowly, hands up. He had a smirk on his face that belied his gesture of surrender, instead letting his hands fall to his sides and observe them with a strange intensity. He was wearing a tailored suit, the cut of which looked suspiciously familiar. As far as he knew, Marluxia only made suits for mobsters and Turks.

"Nice of you to join us, gentlemen. Seifer and Hayner, I believe? You stole a large group of my mages from me yesterday and sent the dogs to my door," he said with a tip of his chin as the other two detectives came down the hallway to join them, "Of course, your friends have been working this lead longer than you know."

Glancing back at his coworkers, he wondered what that meant. They should have only known about the situation since Hayner had discovered the kidnappings were related at the earliest, unless they'd been working a case before any of that happened and only now saw the relation between the victims. Either way, it didn't really make sense. Looking back toward the target, he saw that the man didn't even look worried at the presence of the two new threats. It was confusing right up to the point where he felt a sharp pain in his back and everything started to spin.

"Sorry about this," Luxord apologized with a blank expression as the two younger men collapsed.

Seifer didn't even have time to consider why or how this was happening before the poison forced the darkness of unconsciousness on him.

* * *

><p>Had to end on a little intrigue because I'm a terrible, sadistic author.<p> 


	9. On the Bleeding Edge

**A/N 1: Very long in coming, and I apologize for that. Not sure how I feel about the development in this chapter either, but they can't all be sparkling masterpieces. Unbeta'd.**

* * *

><p>Seifer woke up heavily sedated, confused, and pissed off. At the very least neither he nor Hayner were dead, and a quick check had them both uninjured as well. Where they were was another matter entirely, for the moment it was too dark to see any details. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, he attempted to locate his partner. He could definitely sense the brown-eyed man, but there seemed to be considerable distance between them, on the order of a mile or more. If he had to guess he'd say they had put the two of them in separate areas to lower their chance of escape. They were both still silenced, naturally, and he was missing his guns as well as having his arms tied behind his back. The apparent betrayal at the hands of Luxord and Marluxia stirred a cold anger within him, but he had bigger problems to deal with than being tricked by his own. Mostly rescuing his boyfriend before something terrible befell him because he was danger-prone and the idea of someone else even touching him made Seifer inconsolably furious.<p>

It took about twenty minutes to work out of the ropes, and he wondered at it. If anyone tied them up it was their coworkers since they appeared to be the only ones left on the floor to do the dirty work and they were too smart to leave their captives unbound for any length of time, unconscious or not. So why the fuck would they do such a shitty job of it? Rubbing his wrists, he considered how many people had likely been assigned to guard him and how high his chances of being shot dead immediately were if he kicked out the only door he could see. If they'd spent this much effort getting him here alive, he supposed he had a decent chance of surviving the first encounter; they would probably have been instructed to use nonlethal force. Meaning they didn't stand much of a chance against him, armed or not.

To his surprise there were only three men guarding him and they didn't appear to have firearms, the first falling to a punch to the back of his head before they even had time to react to the door being forced open. The next two presented a bit more challenge, but not much. A kick to the groin brought the second one to his knees where it was easy enough for the detective to drive his foot into the other's face. The last, a thickly-muscled man in a dark hoodie, swept his feet out from under him and pinned him. His move was more amusing than anything, because with one well-aimed punch and a roll, the blond man was on top of him. After throwing a few more punches his opponent was unconscious, having broken one of Seifer's ribs in the process. It was a minor irritant rather than a serious problem at the moment, and he didn't let it bother him as he got his bearings and started in the direction of his partner, fixing his tie. At least he still had a badge, he could steal a car if he came upon any.

* * *

><p>Disoriented, the first thing Hayner realized was that his partner was awake and looking for him. A few seconds after he remembered that they'd been knocked out by their friends, though after all the time he'd spent with Luxord and Marluxia he had to wonder if there wasn't more to their betrayal. If they were just going to side with a mob all along, it would have been a better choice to stay with Corneo's and turn Hayner in as a conspirator to better their positions. Starting in with a second party especially after the mob scene was so badly weakened was essentially suicide; they'd be putting themselves at the top of the Turks' hit list and wouldn't live long enough to enjoy a day of whatever their reward was going to be. He supposed he could ask them about it if he managed to find and corner them later.<p>

Twisting his arms around, he found his bindings were tight enough to prevent him from slipping out. There was a single fluorescent light in the middle of the room and guessing by the concrete ceiling and the chill in the area he guessed he was below ground, probably the basement of some building. At the very least even silenced he could still use non-elemental magic, he didn't need a spell or access to his internal mana for that since there was still a crystal in his pocket; the silence spell had worn off enough that he could probably speak, but it was blocking him from the well of magical energy inside him. It was doubtful that the people who were holding him here knew that he didn't need his own energy to wreak havoc. He knew he could cut the ropes if he concentrated enough, but until he had a read on the situation he'd rather not put his life at risk for a half-assed escape plan. He supposed that was a major difference between himself and his lover, not that he considered it a fault of the other; it couldn't be denied that as far as fist fighting went, his counterpart had a huge advantage over him. Without the same odds against his captors, he was better off waiting until he could ambush them.

"The boss was right about you fighting off the sedative faster than normal people, damn. You're lucky the boss is paying us well, there's a hell of a price on your head and I'm of half a mind to collect," a man in his late twenties commented, dark hair cut short against his head and a high-caliber pistol in his hand.

"Please, I'd kill you before you could even if you did have the balls, now cut the crap and leave me alone," he spat, really needing a cigarette right now.

"You wanna bet, Corneo?" He threatened as he walked toward the restrained blond.

"I don't bet on sure things, it's just not fair," the cop answered with a smirk, driving a spike of energy through his skull.

Content in the knowledge he at least had a gun now, he opted to attempt escape, waiting it out pointless since he'd already killed someone. Most people weren't too forgiving of that in these situations, he might as well be proactive and kill the rest before they killed him. He could sense Seifer getting closer; it would be nice to not need rescuing for once, though the past few times he was captured weren't really his fault in the first place. Attempting to reconcile the odd weight of the gun in his hand, he glanced around the corner of the threshold the man had walked in through. Beyond was a dim hallway with a few closed doors on either side, lights above flickering. There was a door at the end labeled as stairs, so he quietly made his way across to it. Surprisingly, no one came out to stop or shoot at him, and he didn't hear any alarms either. There was a security camera in the corner of the hallway that was operational, so it wasn't that he wasn't being monitored somehow. He had to assume they were either luring him, entertaining their options for incapacitating him again, or there was no one conscious at the guard station.

The stairs were a nerve-wracking experience altogether, it was much easier to shoot down at a target than it was to shoot up, and understanding that made it stressful to be traversing the flights upwards from the very bottom. He'd also be completely trapped if someone were to pursue him, there were no doors on the landings until another two floors up. Frowning, he really wished he weren't silenced right now, being able to use magic more easily would fix a lot of his apprehension. Then again, he should feel lucky to be able to do anything, he knew that Seifer had had to find his way out without being able to kill anyone with a thought.

Pushing through the first door he came to, he was immediately rushed by a man twice his size, ramming him back through the threshold and into the handrail between the ascending and descending stairs. Getting off one body shot before he was disarmed, he had a feeling this was just going to go downhill from here. Thrown down the stairs, he groaned and swore at the man as he pushed himself back to his feet. For someone his size the other was fast, too fast for Hayner to form non-elemental magic into a weapon or even draw it. He managed to dodge the first two punches but the third caught him in the nose, cracking loudly. Snarling, he waited until the man's center of gravity was unstable and swept his legs out from under him, retrieving the gun that had been knocked from his hands and shooting his opponent in the head. Panting, he set his nose and tried to ignore the warm, sticky flow of blood down his face and onto the floor. He was accustomed to pain enough that he didn't notice it much, but the uncomfortable itch of blood on his face was annoying.

Successfully clearing the door without being attacked, he walked along the corridor and turned the corner to find a man with a gun trained on him waiting. They were in a stalemate for a few seconds until a magnum barrel was pressed against the back of his head, the second gunman having come up behind him silently. Feeling much like the world was out to get him, he slowly held his hands up and let the man behind him take his gun.

"Walk, Turk," he ordered, shoving the blond detective forward roughly.

Obeying, because he hardly had any other choice at the moment with two guns pointed at his head, he walked into the room at the end of the hall and to the very man he wanted to see anyway. To kill him, primarily. The ringleader they were sent to capture or kill in the first place was sitting at a desk in the room, several security panels embedded in the long wooden surface.

"So maybe the kitten is a lion after all, you proved yourself fairly effective against the first guard. When I first learned Corneo's son had become a Turk I was surprised, assumed you only got there because you were fucking your partner and had turned on your old man in return for safety, but maybe I was wrong."

"Tell me, why am I still alive? You must have some reasoning for keeping a dangerous person captive," he asked, all too happy to ignore the man's insults.

"Our group is collecting magic-users to protect us in the war against the Heartless. Your dear friends told me you could use magic, so I decided to keep both you and your little boyfriend alive until you're useful to me."

"How the hell do you know about the Heartless?"

"When you have enough money and connections it's easy to come by that kind of information."

"And where do your connections come from? You're obviously small-time, maybe third rung up from the bottom. In the mob we like to call you guys bait," Hayner pressed, slipping into his mafia persona just to push the man's buttons.

"I happen to be third rung down from the top, kitten. You'd be surprised who's at the top of my pyramid, but I'm not giving a detective that information. I'm not that stupid."

"So they're on the board of the Alliance of Cities," he deduced, knowing that only them and the fairly impenetrable ranks of the Turks and the Agents knew about the Heartless situation.

"H-No, you're wrong," he stuttered, the first sound of 'how' all the brown-eyed man needed to know he'd hit the mark.

"Huh, too bad. Guess it's good you didn't tell Marluxia and Luxord about your boss."

"They're actually on their way to him now to explain in detail every strength and weakness of the Turks, in order to kidnap or kill the rest of you depending on how useful you'll be. They already told us Reno and Rude were a lost cause, we've sent a few men out to get rid of them. I assure you that I'll shoot those two idiots who betrayed myself when they're done delivering this city to us."

"Do you play cards?" The younger asked, gathering energy from his crystal to kill the two gunmen that had ambushed him and the other two guards in the room with their guns pointed at him.

"Can't say that I do very often."

"I figured. You can't read a poker face for shit," he swore with a dark smile.

"Don't waste both our time by pretending like you have a way out of this, little lion."

The four men in body armor fell in unison when he stabbed them through the skull, trigger fingers never even getting the signal to jerk. Bending down, he grabbed the high-caliber gun the man at his back had carried, crossing the distance between him and his unarmed enemy. The man begged for his life, as they always did, and it was sort of amusing how fast their attitudes switched.

"Not a lion, I prefer jaguars," he snapped, shooting the man in the chest and letting him bleed out.

Grabbing another gun off of one of the guards, he checked the security footage to see if anyone else was coming. The hallways he could see were deserted, so at least he wasn't in a hurry. Searching the man's body once he was sure he was dead, he came up with almost nothing, typical of a pawn. Their superiors didn't let them carry much identification or evidence on their persons in the event they were killed, arrested, or pickpocketed. Sighing, he stood and wiped at some of the blood on his face, succeeding only in smearing it and starting his nose bleeding again.

"For fuck's sake," he muttered to himself, opening the window and briefly looking out of it before jumping.

Landing hard on the street, he tried to pinpoint his partner in the city, as well as get his own bearings. He was in a fairly well-off part of town with a few business but mostly large houses and small mansions; he didn't know it terribly well because he always stuck to downtown. Checking his front pocket, he was relieved that at least he still had his badge on him. Tucking his stolen guns away, he had to question where his actual firearms had ended up, supposing he could leave it to the lower level cops to find them after searching the building that had apparently been posing as a warehouse for a chemical supply company, if the sign on the front of it was anything to go on. Walking down the street toward the general direction of both the station and his counterpart, he got a few odd looks from late-night passersby but they thankfully left him alone. At least the silence spell would wear off soon and he could actually heal his nose instead of just waiting for it to stop bleeding.

"_Hayner? Are you okay?"_ His magic-using companion asked across their junction, apparently just getting within range.

"_Fine, you? I just got out, shot the guy we saw before Lux and Marly knocked us out."_

"_I took someone's car, so that's funny. Got any leads out of the guy before you shot him?"_

"_A lot, actually. Seems like his faction knows about the Heartless and is gathering magic-users to protect them and their interests in the coming war. Apparently our friends were headed to meet the higher-ups, ostensibly to tell them all our secrets, but I don't really think they've betrayed us. If they did, they would have suggested a lot better security, and hit us with a stronger drug than the one they did."_

"_You have a point, I was able to get free of the rope they tied me up with easily, without the use of magic. I know they're not that incompetent. Think this was just a ruse to convince the faction they're pretending to work for that they're trustworthy? Maybe get a shot at the top brass, or at least know who they are?"_

"_I'm thinking this goes pretty far up, so that's my guess. I've known them for too long to think they'd just up and switch sides on me. If nothing else, they had a better gig with the Don."_

"_But we could also just be overly optimistic, they were our friends, after all."_

"_I have to admit, I've never had to murder a friend before. Don't know for sure that I could, to be honest."_

"_Push comes to shove, I'll do it. What street are you on or near, by the way? I'm getting close to you."_

"_Lyon Street, know it?"_

"_Yeah, it's near where I grew up after I was adopted the last time. That area's primarily homes for the upper middle class, though the zoning is kind of odd, few businesses here and there. I'll be there in about five."_

"_Has your silence worn off yet? Mine's getting there but I'm not able to use anything beyond non-elemental magic at the moment."_

"_That you can use that is impressive. I'm still probably half an hour away from being able to use magic, but I can speak, at least."_

"_I'll just wait under this streetlight and turn tricks until you arrive then."_

"_That fast?"_

"_What can I say, I'm good."_

"_You'll have to show me then, not sure I believe you."_

He smirked and leaned against one of the lampposts as he said he would, wishing for a moment he could be completely anonymous again. It would be so much easier to just walk off and disappear into the night and leave the fate of the world in someone else's hands. But he had a responsibility to the scion he was junctioned to and the people he loved to stick around and deal with the fallout of war, both on the mafia and the Heartless. At the very least he could use magic normally again, healing his nose and finally wiping the majority of the blood off his face without making a worse mess. A few minutes later the other detective arrived, typically conspicuous in a very expensive red sports car.

"Who the hell did you steal this from?"

"Some millionaire that was more worried about how not helping the police would hurt his image than he was about his very expensive car? Probably a politician of some sort. You alright?"

"Fantastic, wanna see if we can locate our partners, or did you just want to go home for the night and fuck with that whole situation tomorrow?"

"Considering we have no idea where they are geographically, it would be a waste of our time to chase after them, especially since they might be doing us a favor. Let's just report this to Tseng or Elena and go home. You know, a shift was never this exciting before you came along. I've gotten killed and we've both been betrayed and captured and it's only your first day."

"I really hope most days are much, much more boring than this. I'm tired of being kidnapped and doublecrossed and I'm not okay with you dying ever again."

"I can assure you that things will cool down quickly if we can take out whoever Marly and Lux are going after, and the Sevens. Tseng will probably take pity on us and give us easier jobs for a few weeks in the interest of keeping us alive. Even Turks get worn down after a while."

"And I'm emotionally and mentally delicate, is what you're driving at."

"Not what I meant exactly, but can you deny that it's somewhat true?"

"I could, I'm a much better liar than you think."

"Doesn't make it less true. I'm not trying to say you're weak or anything like that, just that you have way too much to deal with at the moment and you're incredibly dangerous to yourself and others if you break under stress."

"Not my fault the gods saw fit to give me ridiculous amounts of power without the time or natural talent to control it well. Trust me, I'll be fine, Seif. I may be broken, but I'm not about to give."

"I believe in you," the scarred man said finally, pensive.

"At least someone does, pretty sure most everyone else is ready to lock me up until they're certain I'm completely harmless."

"Would rather die than let that happen to you, Hayner. Don't worry about everyone else, if they're smart they'll be too afraid of us to do anything like that. Besides, they need you. Ultima isn't about to pick a new champion and the Heartless aren't just going to go away."

"Whoever is controlling them must be powerful to be worth the notice of the gods and their scions. If the most powerful avatar of each element is picking a human companion to be their champion that would imply that that person or thing can only be felled by all of them working together, don't you think?"

"Can't imagine something that could stand up to the concentrated onslaught of a single spirit, much less all of them. Pretty fucking terrifying," Seifer agreed, pulling up to the station and turning the car off.

"Not to mention they have an ever-growing self-replacing army of nightmare monsters. And our main defense is, what, a handful of people in their twenties that can use magic and a few that can wield giant keys? Forgive me if I'm not thrilled."

"Doesn't sound like your idea of a nice vacation? I'm shocked," the older blond replied dully, sarcasm dripping off his words as they entered the building.

He considered what he would say to the leader of the Turks, quickly coming to a decision as they knocked on the door to the man's office. Walking in, he tilted his head and crossed his arms confrontationally.

"Tell me, why did you use us as bait for Lux and Marly's trap? Doesn't it strike you as a dangerous gamble to bet on us falling for it and not trying to kill our partners or stop them?"

"_Are you seriously saying Tseng knew all along?"_

"_Yeah, I am. He put us on with them, after all."_

The black-haired detective quirked an eyebrow at him and the ghost of a smile pulled at his lips, "You are entirely too sharp for your own good, Hayner. You're right, I did send you both directly into a trap, but I knew the four of you were competent enough that despite all the variables you'd manage to complete the operation in one piece. Thanks to you the others have a direct in with whoever the higher level management is in this case, and hopefully will return with names and locations soon. We need to root them out as quickly as possible, as they not only pose a direct threat to any magic user in the cities of the Alliance, but also have access to classified information that could disrupt our investigation into the Heartless."

"You're a bastard, Tseng, one of us could have been killed. I'm guessing you had to force the others into this as well, didn't you?" Seifer swore, clearly on the verge of being angry.

"I did, yes, but eventually they agreed there was no other way, the same conclusion I'm sure you'll come to once you consider the situation from an objective point of view. I know it makes you furious when Hayner's put in danger and I assure you I wanted to avoid it, but you're both adults and extremely deadly detectives, I trusted you to be able to handle yourself in a bad situation. I wasn't wrong."

"Well we succeeded, if you could call it that, and we're calling it a night. Keep us updated on Lux and Marly if you can, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Try to get some rest, and unfortunately those two are strictly classified until we have the leak in the Alliance behind bars."

It wasn't surprising that Luxord and Marluxia were going deep undercover again, they were both practiced and very good at it. He hoped they would be safe, taking down a chair of the Alliance was arguably more dangerous than infiltrating the Don's ranks. While his and Seifer's jobs weren't the easiest, he certainly didn't envy them right now. Dragging himself to his boyfriend's vehicle, he sighed and fell into the passenger's seat, wishing for the impossible: a night of uninterrupted sleep. He didn't want to be stabbed or torn to shreds by visions of the future, he'd be happy with regular goddamn nightmares at this point.

"I'll put you under, you can't go on like this. No one could."

"I just want to fucking sleep. Is that bad?"

"Not at all, Hayner. It's more important that you're able to defend yourself against anything or anyone that might try to kill you than that you know what's going to happen during a war that might not start for months. Not ready to have you nearly die on me again, twice is plenty."

"I'm not ready to have your stupid ass die on me again. Didn't anyone teach you that you only get to die once, not three times at minimum?"

"Must've skipped that day in biology. Maybe it was the same one where we went over jungle animals," he joked lightheartedly, drawing a smile from his exhausted companion.

"That would explain so much of your life so far. I miss Griever, and it's only been half a day since we saw him."

"He definitely grows on people."

"Speaking of, seems like you and Rox had a heart to heart while I was gone. What was that all about?"

"Think he finally figured out what it means to be a Turk and accepted that we're family. He's a little slow sometimes. At least he got it at all."

"There is that. Maybe he'll be less of an ass in the future. He does owe you his life after all."

"Not planning on bringing that up, cheap to save someone and expect anything in return."

"Such a damn hero."

"You know you love it."

"I do, as much as I'd love to take your ego down a few pegs, I can't. At least not with this."

Naturally Seifer insisted on carrying him up to the apartment, because apparently walking was for other people. At this point he was certain it was a coping mechanism for both of them, not just the elder. Sighing, he let the other undress him down to his boxers because it was nice to have someone touch him intimately without actually wanting sex out of it. Pressing their lips together, he wound his fingers into the man's pale blond hair and relaxed for the first time that day. The scarred cop hung their clothes up to be washed later and fed the cat, falling into bed next to him and kissing him briefly before pulling him in close.

"Sleep well Hayner, love you," Seifer said quietly before beginning the sleep spell.

"Love you too."

* * *

><p>They ate breakfast and belatedly realized they hadn't eaten anything but their first meal the night before, apparently lacking healthy eating and sleeping habits while under stress. Seifer doubted that the mission they had set up for today would go remotely as planned, but at the very least they probably weren't about to be betrayed by their fellow Turks. Even if he had to, Roxas wouldn't so much as pretend to turn on Hayner, and Tseng would never put him up to it. It would hurt the brown-eyed teen too badly.<p>

"_You're right, much as I hate to admit it."_

"_What are you pulling out of my head now?"_

"_If you or Rox betrayed me I'd be done. With all of this bullshit, maybe with being alive in general," _the younger detective clarified.

"_Not a chance of that happening, so don't worry about it. Seriously, I know how paranoid you are."_

The drive to meet their coworkers at the station passed in tense silence, neither particularly looking forward to whatever misfortune was going to meet them today. Sometimes he wondered if there was really a reason to make a plan for any kind of operation since nothing they did ever went according to it. It was like drawing up blueprints for a house that was going to be demolished the same day as it was built. At least he'd get to work with Balthier again, the sky pirate was always a hell of a lot of fun when he encountered him in his smuggling days. He doubted the brunet man had slowed down any, he wasn't the kind of fire to gutter out.

"I was wondering, what's a Viera doing so far out of the wood? It'd be one thing if she and Balthier were involved romantically, but if he's with Vaan I doubt that's it," his lover asked, eyes thoughtful.

"Don't really know much about Fran, just that she and Balthier are joined at the hip but it's purely platonic. Like brother and sister, almost. A lot of people think they're fucking but they definitely aren't."

"It happens, people struggle to correctly identify other forms of deep affection than romantic love. Most don't understand it until they've experienced it."

"True. I'm used to it because of my friends, and by extension the Turks, but most people don't have friendships or family-like bonds like we do."

Getting out of the car and meeting their partners in crime in their office he was shocked to find them actually doing work instead of having sex. Apparently they did understand how to fill out paperwork. There was an unusual lack of tension between him and Roxas and he had to hope that saving his life and talking with him yesterday had actually made a difference. Miracles did happen; he was still alive after all.

"So how do we want this to work? We meet up with the pirates, hide while they confront the Sevens, and knock out as many as we can with sleep spells and take the rest down with non-fatal shots?" The shortest blond asked as he started the car, glancing back at them in the rearview.

"Something like that yeah. Don't kill anyone unless you absolutely have to, and watch out for the kids if at all possible," he replied, receiving an elbow in the ribs for referring to his partner's friends as children.

"So what happened with Luxord and Marluxia? They never came back after you four were seen leaving the station together, and they didn't come in today either," Axel asked, looking at them out of the corner of his eye.

"Classified stuff. Sorry guys," Hayner replied simply.

"Must be undercover again then, that's a bitch."

"It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Why Marly is good at being undercover is beyond me, guess he mostly follows his partner's lead," the scarred blond wondered out loud.

"He's pretty damn flamboyant, but he's a fantastic liar. He could convince you he was a triple agent in under a minute."

"Would have loved to see him convince Tseng that pink hair is reasonable in a professional setting."

"I'd imagine that was a long conversation and if the Chief did manage an expression it would have been unimpressed. Marly's good at what he does, but he looks ridiculous," the redhead added with a smirk.

"Says the guy with a head of red spikes."

"Shut up, Seifer," he snapped back with a lopsided grin because he knew it was true that he was calling the kettle black.

"_You're unusually quiet, is something wrong?"_

"_Everything's fine Seif, it's just Ultima. She's on edge about something but she won't tell me what, it's nauseating. Her emotions bleed just like ours do, and having all this anxiety at the back of my mind without knowing why is fucking terrible."_

"_Generally speaking when an esper is edgy about something it's pretty catastrophic. Hopefully she'll tell you what it is sooner rather than later, at least then we can address the issue."_

"_If there's nothing she can do about it, where the hell do we come in?"_

"_We're corporeal? That's kind of the clincher in the summon-human relationship, they need us because they've been banished by the gods into gems for their insubordination. Now they're only allowed out when they bend to the will of a human partner, which keeps them humble enough to not rail against the gods again."_

"_Guess you have a point, never really thought much into it. Whatever is happening must be going on in the real world instead of Midplane."_

"…_Midplane? The fuck are you talking about?"_

"_The other word for it is unpronounceable, but that's what it translates to. That's where we dream share and where the spirits and espers exist. A plane of existence between our world and the null plane, which is where the gods live. Well, and don't live, they exist in a constant state of uncertainty because the null plane both is and isn't. Each plane away from ours is a step up in implausibility."_

"_Maybe you should start writing this shit down for Dr. Osmond. Pretty sure he'd murder an intern for the stuff you spout at random." _

"_I'll consider it. He has helped us out a lot lately, probably owe him. Don't like to have debts, you know?"_

"_You grew up in the mafia, doesn't take a genius to figure out why. You going to be able to focus on the fight today?"_

"_Not that distracted by her. 'Sides, I'm sure she'll back off once we're in mortal danger and try to be more proactive. She does want us alive after all."_

"_You, anyway."_

"_Everyone in this car has a stake in the end of the world, she'll protect all of us."_

"_Axel and Roxas as well? She tell you that?"_

"_Not in words, I just sorta knew."_

"_That's kind of…"_

"_I know, weird, nothing I can do about it though, might as well embrace it for what it is and make use of it where I can."_

"_For once I'm really glad Zodiark sleeps most of the time, couldn't stand him if he constantly bled into my mind."_

"Hey guys, quit your internal conversation, we're here. Crazy bastards," Axel swore as the two Turks in the front got out.

"You're just jealous that you two don't share a junction bridge," Hayner responded as they followed suit, the sandy-haired blond immediately walking over to embrace his young friends.

"Almasy, you're still alive after all," Balthier addressed him, amber eyes watching him demurely.

"Died yesterday, but it only counts if it's permanent, right?" He retorted with an irreverent smirk.

"Humes have a penchant for being hard to kill despite their short lifespans, it would seem," the white-haired archer commented, red eyes assessing Hayner more than they did him.

"The gods gave humans tenacity over longevity, sometimes that's what makes the difference. Those species that live longer grow wise and complacent, those that die quickly are more willing to enact change in the world, for better or worse," the youngest detective said somewhat cryptically, eyes glowing white.

"The hell kinda drugs are you on, Hayner?" Kytes asked, earning himself a cuff from Fran.

"You should treat the Harbinger of the High Seraph with more respect," she said, her accent thickening as if weighted down with ancient lore.

"Is that what the Vieras call it? A harbinger?"

"Yes. The forerunners to the scions of the gods."

"What is she talking about?" Roxas asked, cerulean eyes focused on his best friend suspiciously.

"Conversation for another time, right now we have a gang to beat the shit out of."

They quickly went over the plan with the artifact smugglers who didn't seem to have an issue with it, though Vaan never seemed to have a problem with anything if Seifer got an accurate read on the kid. It was good Balthier was around to temper his brash attitude and keep him from running into a fire fight with a sword. Not that that was an outright terrible idea, but it had never really worked for anyone other than himself that he knew of. The foursome of thieves had already informed the Sevens of the shipment and where they were going to intercept it. Apparently they had been put to the task of fighting the pirates, the winner taking the prize of bragging rights and all the stolen artifacts. They were essentially capitalizing on the senseless pride and greed of the gang to get them to do something incredibly stupid. The strategy hadn't failed them so far.

Lying in wait where the others planned to take the vehicle after they hijacked it, he had the fleeting thought that he was very close to doing exactly what he used to do before he got out of the underground. He supposed it was inevitable he'd end up here again considering what he specialized in on the force, at least this way he was aiding people he actually liked in their crime ventures.

"I'm holding you to that conversation later, by the way. You've both been hiding way too much shit from us lately and I'm fucking tired of it."

"Yes Rox, I'll explain everything I'm at liberty to as soon as we're not in the middle of a case. Try to focus on what we're actually doing instead of what you feel you have the right to be pissed about, okay?" Hayner spat back, anxiety mixing with irritation.

It didn't take long for their friends to return with a quarter ton of magical stones and a tail. The gang members entered the alley fully expecting to catch their opponents unaware with guns when the original arrangement was a proper fists-only fight, so he had to assume they were surprised when they were jumped by four cops and almost immediately disarmed. There would be more of them in a few minutes when the others didn't return, but for now they could cuff the offenders and stuff them in a bush where they wouldn't be seen by their comrades. It was exhilarating to be the ones doing the incapacitation after being on the wrong end of the same situation the night before, a relief.

"_Won't be as easy the second time; they'll be expecting us."_

"_Don't kill my buzz, I want it to last at least until I get shot,"_ he retorted mentally to his companion, knowing damn well someone's blood was going to be spilt and would rather it was his.

"_Suicidal asshole, let someone else get shot for once."_

"_What if that someone is you?"_

"_Not sure if this escaped your notice, but I have taken a few bullets before and I'm honestly okay with it."_

"_Doesn't mean I am."_

"_You're barely okay with me going outside because it's dangerous, Seif."_

"_Your point being? There are hundreds of people out there that have you at the top of their hit list."_

"_Same for you, same for all of us. I may have a few dozen extra potential murderers out there, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm in more danger than the rest of the Turks. At least from humans, and we're not safe from the Heartless anywhere."_

Their conversation ended abruptly when bullets whizzed past them, Hayner firing a few body shots while speaking the words to a silence spell, rendering three of the half-dozen people closest to them incapacitated in one way or another. He took out the others, while Vaan, the little smartass, swept the lot of them away with a whirlwind. Disoriented, dazed, or outright unconscious, they were easy to subdue and tie up.

"This one is their leader," the white-haired woman said decisively, grabbing a man in his thirties that looked for all intents and purposes just like everyone else in the group.

"How can you tell?" He pressed, unconvinced.

"Fran can read people like a book, you get used to it. Chalk it up to having lived a bit longer than us ordinary mortals," Kytes supplied helpfully.

They took the gang members to the station to be booked, their leader set aside for interrogation. Axel and Roxas left to get permission to do the investigation themselves, since apparently the blond was in one of his violent moods, though they didn't leave with a reminder that they were due a conversation. Their good-cop bad-cop routine was entertaining, mostly because it was more bad-cop and isn't-Roxie-adorable-when-he's-mad-I'm-not-going-to-help-you-cop. Tseng stopped them halfway through their mission reports in their office to inform them they were to take the list Lux and Marly had gotten for them thus far and stalk the traitors for any information regarding their organization and its leaders. The older blond detective mentioned that the faction was planning on sending men after Reno and Rude, to which the man with dark eyes nodded, face carefully blank.

"This sort of thing is going to take weeks, are you sure you can afford to keep us out of other cases for so long?" Hayner asked, glancing up from the sheet.

"The traitors and moles in our government are a risk to the security and stability of every city in the Alliance. If information about the Heartless gets out to the populace without us controlling the situation, it will cause mass rioting, murder, and exodus into the wilds where we cannot protect our citizens. I think we can deal with the personnel shortage."

"Point taken. So, are we supposed to eventually arrest them, or just watch them until we get enough information to incriminate the top brass and therefore everyone below them as well?"

"The second one. Whatever information you gain will go a long way to helping the other team. They've met with the leader, but not face to face, so we as yet have nothing to go on as far as their identity."

"Besides that, would possibly be a good idea to actually have concrete physical evidence on these guys before we try to take down a member of the council. They have a lot of credibility we need to destroy before anyone will believe us. What about the Agents, wouldn't they know something about the situation since they answer to the council? In fact, wouldn't they try to stop Luxord and Marluxia?" Seifer jumped in.

"It seems the council member has devised a very effective way of hiding or mimicking his mana signature so that the Agents never know he's gone, as far as we know they are not involved in the crime ring in any way. This isn't something you should discuss with them either, in the event there are dirty Agents in the fold."

"And if we're discovered and attacked by the people we're watching?"

"Kill them and make it look like an ordinary crime, we can't have anyone find out that we're investigating them beyond the man who kidnapped you. Was there anything else you needed to know?"

"Not really, we'll let you know if anything else occurs to us. Elena's fully up on this too, I'm guessing?"

"Naturally. Good luck."

The black-haired detective turned and left them alone again, prompting Hayner to sigh, stand, and hand him the list. The younger blond had memorized it in the time it took to have their conversation, so he burned it once he was done doing the same. The less physical evidence of their surveillance mission they had on them, the better.

"I'm guessing this will be a largely street-clothes affair."

"Suits would be a little conspicuous, don't you think? Good thing we got your stuff a bit ago, people tend to notice when your entire wardrobe is new."

"Also buying all new clothes would be tedious as fuck."

"I thought most bottoms loved shopping," the larger blond quipped, ducking the pen thrown at his head.

"To everyone else I'm a top, so your stereotyping is not only inaccurate but doesn't apply to me either."

"You're just too cute to be dominating, I don't see it."

He knew better than to taunt his boyfriend, but he liked the results too much to avoid it. This situation was no exception, the teen diving toward him, knocking his chair over and bringing them both to the floor. His wrists were pinned to the tile and Hayner had ended up straddling him, and naturally that was when Roxas and Axel deigned to walk in on them.

"Could you maybe be doing something normal when we see you, ever? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you two and compromising positions?"

"Says the guy I walked in on about to have sex with his boyfriend at work the other day. You're here about the harbinger comment, aren't you?" Hayner replied snidely before standing and helping his partner to his feet.

"Yes, we are. Turns out the leader of the Sevens is a wimpy bitch, didn't take long to break him. Got too used to interrogating the big dogs, I guess. So, why the fuck did a Viera call you the harbinger of Ultima?"

"As far as it was explained to Seifer, the Scions are choosing champions to fight against whatever or whoever is controlling the Heartless in a last ditch effort to save the human race from being overrun by darkness. All of us will have a place in the war, some more important in the end than others. Your cousin is the primary wielder of the keyblade, and you'll use one too one day. If I had to guess, Axel is Belias's champion, Seifer is Zodiark's, and obviously Ultima has chosen me. And so on."

"You're serious. Gods, you're actually fucking serious," the spiky-haired blond said, looking like he might need to sit down.

"Yeah, congrats, you have to help save the world."

"If it means I get to burn things down, I'm okay with that," the green-eyed cop said with a shrug, hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Well, someone needs to protect you three morons from the Heartless, figures it would fall to me," Roxas said finally, looking burdened.

"Say, Rox, when you were Hayner's boyfriend, were you typically the bottom?" Seifer asked, knowing exactly how to take his mind off the issue.

The shortest Turk turned a strange shade of red and huffed loudly before turning on his heel and leaving, slamming the door behind him. Both Seifer and Axel turned instead to the brown-eyed man, smirking.

"Well, was he?" They said in unison, something Seifer had long ago resigned himself to since they were junctioned through Ifrit.

Rolling his eyes he replied, "Yes, he was. Though I can tell he's a top in his current one."

"Not all the time!" Axel snapped back once he recovered from his shock enough to remember how to control his hanging jaw.

"We all know you're completely whipped, Ax, it's kinda pointless to deny it. It's cute, really," Hayner returned, leaning against the desk behind him in a relaxed but intimidating pose, oddly comfortable and in charge of the situation.

Maybe he was opening up, finally. Seifer could always hope.

"If you were anyone else I'd kick your ass, but I owe you my life and your boyfriend kinda terrifies me," the pyromaniac spat, feigning irritation, though his lips kept twitching into a smile.

"Wouldn't need him to lay you out, Axel. Fought guys bigger than you," the youngest cop challenged, smiling at him darkly, continuing when the spiky-haired man failed to come up with a reply, "You remind me a lot of your brother sometimes."

He ducked the weak swing sent his way, and the redhead threw his hands up and left, either to nurse his ego or find his boyfriend to complain about their terrible friends. Leaning over and kissing his partner, he wanted to know what that was all about, but figured it could wait until they were home.

* * *

><p>"<em>Target moving west on Moonlight street. Fucking hell, why can't the street names in the market district be numbers instead of tortured references to day and night? At least in the commercial district all but the main drags are just numbers," <em>he swore over their link, struggling to keep track of the names of the roads as they feigned jogging along different streets to keep track of the business man they were stalking.

"_You're bitching to the wrong blond about it, want the street names changed, talk to Rufus. He might humor you if you convince Tseng to spend a few nights at home instead of working 'round the clock."_

"_Might as well expect me to hang the moon while I'm at it. It took enough effort just to get him to hand half his workload over to Elena so he was actually sleeping in his office a few nights a week. I'm not volunteering to kidnap and hold him at Rufus's home just so he leaves the station. Pretty sure his favoritism doesn't extend so far as to allow that kind of thing."_

"_Dunno, you can pull off helpless well enough when you need to, might get him to show a little mercy."_

"_Thing is, he knows damn well I'm not helpless. Ruins the effect."  
><em>

"_Where the hell is this guy going?" _Seifer asked, going back to the matter at hand as their unwitting target rounded a corner down a dead end.

"_Must be meeting someone. I'll follow him as far as I can, keep back."_

Creeping up against the two-story business, he leaned his head around enough to see the man turn the corner of the short alley. If he remember the map correctly the area he walked into couldn't have been more than thirty feet deep and it definitely dead-ended, only existing to accommodate a back exit one of the shops. Crossing the space to the far wall, he pressed himself close to it and made his way quietly to the edge and controlled his breathing so he could listen.

"-weeks and Russell has yet to contact me about whether Jarvin gave away any information or if those Turks that he used our new recruits to kidnap and ended up killing him are doing anything about our outfight right now. What if they're after us now? The new guys say they don't know anything about what the cops are doing, but I think they're lying."

"Calm down, Russell's moved up to Radiant, I'm in charge of Twilight's underground ops now. Those two detectives are being taken care of, I've made arrangements. They shouldn't be a problem after tomorrow."

"Killing Turks? And Jarvin said those guys were important, don't you think the boss-"

"The boss doesn't need to know we called in the hit, these guys have plenty of enemies. Just lay low for a few days and we can get back to business as usual."

"Whatever you think is best, Jay. I'll keep working on the security guard at the research center."

"Their records on magic users will be invaluable, especially if we can kidnap Dr. Osmond as well. Will have to manage an adequate distraction for the Turks to keep them occupied while we take him. Bombing the station should be enough."

"_Are you fucking getting all this? Seriously, these guys are batshit."_

"_As if making the station explode would actually distract us, Axel would just think his birthday came early."_

"_That's not what I meant, asshole."_

"_We've gotta warn everyone, and apparently not get whacked by hitmen in the meantime. Fun. Now get the hell out of there."_

"_Got it,"_ he returned, silently edging out of the alley and taking off down the road toward where he was meeting his partner.

It was too easy to be reminded of all the times he'd done recon for Tseng before he joined up with Seifer for their operation; he'd often run around following people and relaying information in his street clothes. They'd been given this job simply because he was so damn good at it, even if he was caught he could usually weasel his way out of the situation. As Seifer had pointed out, he could pretend to be stupid and helpless quite effectively when he needed to.

"_So, he said after tomorrow, I assume the assassins are going to go after us while we're sleeping tomorrow night. Any bright ideas on how to thwart and possibly kill them without firing shots in our apartment?"_ Hayner questioned his lover, not really liking the idea of strangers intruding on his living space and having to risk breaking something to eliminate them.

"_I like how the integrity of our interior design ranks higher on your list of priorities than the lives of the would-be killers."_

"_Hey, it's a nice place."_

"_You're incorrigible and sociopathic."_

"_Are you building up to a point or something? 'Cause if not then you're just calling the kettle black, Seif."_

"_Just making sure we were on the same page with just how crazy we are. We could always just use magic, would make less of a mess. Guess we don't necessarily have to kill them either. Should we mention them to Tseng, or just surprise him?"_

"_Surprise him, otherwise he's going to do something ridiculous like try to assign one of the others as a bodyguard. This way he'll just be pissed off instead of worried."_

"_Better to ask forgiveness than permission and all that. Judging by how little homework these assholes are doing on us I really doubt the hitmen they hire will be properly outfitted to take on high-ranking mages, it shouldn't be hard to knock them out or at the very least burn them to a crisp."_

They met up in a parking garage far enough away from the scene that they wouldn't be caught by the men they were tracking, Seifer dragging him into a kiss like they hadn't seen or heard from one another for days. Not that he minded his partner's fervor, pushing the hood off the other's head and threading his hands in soft blond hair.

"Love you," he whispered against the scarred man's lips.

"Love you too, Hayner. Ready to head home?"

"Sure, not really up to any vigilante antics tonight."

"Up to anything else?" Seifer asked, smiling cockily at him as he pulled away.

"Depends what anything else entails."

Apparently in the blue-eyed blond's dictionary, anything else meant tumbling his partner into the backseat of his car and giving him head. Again, not that he was complaining. Though that could have been largely because he ceased to be able to speak or think coherently when the other's lips had wrapped around his dick. Panting and flushed, he was pressed up against the door when he came with a shout, whiting out for a second.

"So pretty when you come, you let your guard down for once."

"You know, for a guy who's bisexual, you're really good at giving head."

"Just because I'm attracted to both genders doesn't mean I've had sex with both of them equally. I'm kind of a rough guy, easier to deal with other guys on that front, you know?"

"I can understand that," Hayner replied, getting out of the backseat languidly and sitting down in the front as his lover did the same, "Was your first time-"

"Guy, actually, I was pretty adventurous when I was younger. Not that that's really changed. You've never-"

"With a girl? No. Honestly never crossed my mind. Kairi and Namine insisted on testing out whether I was outright gay or not, you know, for my _health_. I think they were just mad when I fucked a guy that Namine forgot to mention she had a crush on."

"How exactly did they attempt to tell whether you were gay or not?"

"That is a story for when I am not sober enough to make good judgment calls. Involved ropes, and that is all I'm going to say."

"I'll just ask them next time I see them, they seem to enjoy seeing you blush."

"It's everyone's favorite pass time, apparently," he muttered irritably, prompting the other to pull him into a soft kiss in the middle of driving, which while dangerous was a pretty sweet thing to do.

"Only because you're adorable."

"Quit undermining my masculinity, gods. Just because you think yours is in danger…" He trailed off, grinning at the ice-colored glare sent his way.

"If I felt my masculinity was in question I'd go beat the shit out of a street gang or something and set the record straight."

"The only thing you can make straight is a lesbian, Seif."

"Smartass. Though if the twins can't make you straight, doubt I'd have a lot of luck with that. I'm just saying they're pretty hot and if you were even the tiniest bit attracted to women you wouldn't be able to pass up a threesome with them," he added at the smaller man's questioning look.

"Well at least you can be sure I'm not going to find another tall, hot blonde that happens to have tits and walk out on you."

"I was sure before that, I'm pretty hard to beat."

"And a cocksure asshole, but who's counting. 'Sides, you know I don't love you for your looks. Though I could, I suppose, you're attractive enough," he supplied thoughtfully, as if considering.

"You know, I already gave you head, flattery isn't really going to get you anything here."

"You act like I could have forgotten that you just blew me in the backseat five minutes ago. Seif, I may be blond, but I am not an airhead. Besides, just because you got me off doesn't mean we can't have sex, unless you have a headache or something," he continued, feeling the urge to make another jab at his partner's dominance.

"You're going to regret that. Or not, you don't mind rough sex."

"Not fragile, and you don't actually set out to hurt me, so why the hell would I? It's not interesting if you don't at least draw a little blood."

"I don't think you're ever going to let my neck recover, are you?"

"If you didn't like the bruises you would heal them, quit complaining. I know it gets you off when I bite you. We're linked telepathically, you can't hide stuff like that, especially not when we're having sex. Seems like it's impossible to keep up mental shields when you're orgasming."

"I've noticed, that's true even for someone shut up as tightly as you."

"I wonder if…" He trailed off, too embarrassed at the thought to continue, though as always his companion picked up on what he meant.

"Doubt it, if we bled into the junction that badly that Cloud and Zack could sense it, it would probably happen the opposite way too. I mean, it's been what, a couple months or something since those two got back together, there's no way in hell they haven't been fucking like bunnies in the time you've been bonded to Ultima."

"Wow, you did not use the word bunny to refer to Cloud just now, did you? That is a terrifying mental image."

"We're two minutes away from home; you will forget this entire conversation very soon, so don't freak out about it too much."

"Holding you to that, Seif."

* * *

><p>He really loved the way Hayner gasped when he was slammed into walls like he wasn't expecting it, or how his eyelashes fluttered when Seifer sucked a mark into his neck. The taller blond was a bit surprised when his boyfriend turned the tables on him as soon as his shirt was off, pulling his belt off and proceeding to shove him onto the bed and tie him to it with the strip of leather. Quirking an eyebrow at his companion, he wondered if there was a reason Hayner suddenly wanted to take control.<p>

"As a couple, we're really into light bondage, aren't we?" He commented conversationally, rolling his left shoulder slightly.

"We're both tops, it's only natural there'd be a power struggle between us that transfers into aggression and attempts to somewhat subordinate the other. You're probably never going to bottom, so bondage and mild blood play is actually a pretty vanilla way of working that out, don't you think?"

"Gods, you make us sound so boring. You know, you don't actually need to tie me up."

"Never thought I did, I just wanted to," the brown-eyed teen returned, teeth flashing in a predatory smile, "Does it make you nervous?"

"Not in this situation. Normally when I'm tied up it's more sinister than my boyfriend wanting to make love."

The other just smirked and bit into his shoulder, lapping at the blood before tugging the larger detective's pants and boxers off. He felt a bit at a disadvantage, he was tied up and naked and his counterpart was still unrestrained and fully clothed. It was disturbing how little it bothered him to not have control of the situation for once. Hayner stripped gracefully, lithe body arching and drawing taut with practiced ease. He had a slow-burning urge to trace the scars on his body again, though he'd have to wait until the sandy-blond deigned to release him to do that. The younger man bit his lip cutely before leaning down to kiss him, dark lashes low over his eyes.

Watching the other work himself open was maddeningly hot, his lover flushed and panting above him by the time he got around to tearing open the condom wrapper. His eyes slammed shut when the smaller cop lowered himself onto Seifer's aching hard-on, the sensation momentarily too much. Hayner made a tiny noise that could have been a moan, taking a deep breath and relaxing around him. After a second he pushed himself back up and down, finding an easy rhythm that seemed specifically designed to make his boyfriend want more. Growling at his lover after a few minutes, he bucked his hips, earning himself a hard bite on the neck that didn't hurt so much as it turned him on.

"You're a bastard," the muscular blond huffed, somewhere beyond hot and bothered.

"You love me, now shut up before I gag you."

"_Because that would make such a difference."_

"_Can't blame a guy for trying."_

He just rolled his eyes and jerked upward again at just the right angle, drawing a scream from his partner and a string of nonsense from their link. Glaring at him, Hayner slammed himself down on the other's cock hard enough to draw a gasp from both of them. Apparently having figured out how to make better use of their junction in light of the knowledge that their shields went down when they were fucking, Hayner let his filter fall completely and flooded the blue-eyed man's mind with what he was feeling. The next time he hit the brown-eyed teen's prostate the rush of pleasure hit him hard enough to force an orgasm, the smaller blond coming with him.

Once they had come down enough that they could say something over their junction that wasn't atrociously grammatically incorrect and Hayner pulled off him the belt was undone and he stretched his shoulders before pulling off the condom and throwing it into the trash. Grinning, he pinned the other to the bed with his body weight, hands on the slighter male's shoulders.

"That was pretty awesome. What gave you the idea?"

"Nothing really, I just like experimenting. Gotta say, never had two orgasms at once before."

Laughing shortly, he agreed, "Can't say I have either. I could definitely get used to it though."

They showered together, Seifer pressing him against the wall and kissing him deeply, bodies melding together under the spray. It was easy to ignore all the problems the outside world had when they were with one another like this, but pretending they weren't there wouldn't make them go away, unfortunately.

"Stop thinking so much, asshole. And you call me a buzzkill."

"Think we could just leave the defense of our apartment to the cat?"

"I'd rather capture them and torture them for information, if these fuckheads break into our home and try to kill us they don't deserve a quick death," he spat back, water running in rivulets down his body as he turned the shower off.

"I do so love the sadistic side of you."

"Get used to it, if we get any further into this you'll probably be seeing a lot more of it. It's going to take a lot more than a few bullets to rout these conspirators, anyone in the upper level is going to be tough to get to and even tougher to get rid of. I'll be impressed if Lux and Marly managed to oust their leader before he becomes a problem for us. Think we can trust the agents to rescue us if shit truly does go down?"

"The Director and agents Shiva and Odin are clearly on our side more than anyone else's. I think if it was between our lives and their allegiance to the councilor, they'd pick us, considering the fate of the world partially depends on us. Human race versus some asshole's agenda seems like a really obvious choice for people of any kind of moral character."

"You make it sound so simple," Hayner replied as he dried his hair.

"Some things really just are."

"If you had to choose between me and the world, which would you pick?"

"You wouldn't want me to save you."

"No, but that really doesn't answer the question, does it?"

"I'd try to find a way to save both, but if I really couldn't, I'd save the world. Join you on the other side," he added, sighing, "Can't love you without a world to do it in, can I?"

"When you've died before, have you-"

"It's not something that can really be explained in words, or even images. My parents are there, I know that, but I've never been there long enough to really get a good look around."

There still seemed to be something on his mind, but whatever it was he'd shut it up tight behind his mental shields. It was nice to be able to look deeper into his head than he had been able to before, but there was still plenty that he wasn't allowed to be privy to.

"One thing at a time, I'm not used to giving someone so much of me, not since…you know."

"Wasn't complaining. I know why you're so guarded, especially after having me die on you."

"It sucked enough to have one boyfriend die in front of me, don't make it two. By the way, does this complex have security cameras?" He changed the subject quickly as he pulled on a loose shirt and a clean pair of boxers, his companion following suit.

"Yeah, facing the parking lot, in the elevator, and stairwells. Why do you ask?"

"We need to convince them to tie us into the security system so we can monitor the building for those hitmen. I assume you have a security guard if you have a CCTV system."

"Yeah, she has a small office on the first floor. I could talk with her tomorrow before we go in to work so she can get it set up by the time we come home. Should probably also give her a heads up that there's going to be an attempt on our lives. Not that it's anything that should surprise her," he added, glancing around the living room for the most likely points of entry; he doubted they'd come through the door, probably either the balcony or the windows.

"If you've lived here for any length of time I'm sure she's used to it. What are we going to do about the threat on the station? We aren't really expected there any time soon, should we make the trip or hope no one has managed to tap our phones yet and call the Chief?"

"We'll stop by. I don't trust the security of the satellites any further than I can throw them."

"Well, technically, in space you probably could throw them pretty far," the younger cop quipped snarkily, glancing behind him from his position on the couch.

"You're such a smartass. I'm surprised that mouth hasn't gotten you into more trouble."

"I've been carrying a gun since I was fourteen, that's usually enough to ward off anyone wanting to start a fight over a few words. Has gotten me punched quite a few times though, don't think they expected me to hit back harder."

"You are strong for your size, though knowing your genetic disposition for deception I guess it's not surprising. Most people with an affinity for water are excellent liars, though not so the two strays we gave to Kairi and Namine. Guess it is possible to overcome your elemental affinity."

"Both of us are examples of that too. You're well-controlled despite how unwieldy your primary affinities are, and I'm not nearly as flighty as you seem to think. Roxas is more likely to run away than I am, as far as wind affinities go. I don't conform to the idea that our affinities are an absolute destiny, if that were true, there'd be a lot of people who acted basically the same. We're just as shaped by the world around us as we are by how we're born. I mean, if you think about it, if everything depended on affinity we wouldn't be the champions of Ultima and Zodiark. Though, I have a feeling those two are special cases, considering they're the top tier of the esper hierarchy. If Axel is Belius's choice, we can probably assume everyone else has an affinity-based relationship with the esper or spirit in question."

"You're basing an entire theory on one half-conjecture point of data that disagrees with the only two fully-confirmed pieces of data you have? I seem to remember someone complaining about things being 'terribly unscientific'."

"Shut up and get me a beer while you're overthinking our apartment layout's weak points."

"Fine. Anything else I can get you, _princess_?"

"Yeah, a better pet name."

"I'll get right to work on that," he answered gamely, walking over to the couch with two bottles and handing one to his boyfriend before sitting down, "Mind you it's pretty low on my list of priorities."

"I can be patient, when I want to."

"Do you ever want to be patient? Even when you're biding your time you're pissed off about waiting. Sometimes I think you wouldn't sleep if you honestly thought you could be doing work instead."

"With how enjoyable sleeping is when we don't dream share, work would be a welcome distraction," the sandy-blond agreed despondently, tipping the bottle pressed to his lips.

"I already told you, no one is going to blame you if you choose to use a sleep spell or dream share to avoid them every night, you could use the sleep," he countered, looking at his partner out of the corner of his eye.

"And like I said, there's got to be a reason for it, why it seems to be me that's most affected. I can sleep after we win the war, assuming we survive."

"Unless the espers get destroyed in the conflict, I'm sure you'll make it, at least. Ultima wouldn't let you die, she likes you too much. Probably keep the rest of us alive to keep you stable too."

"Huh, look at that, I made you useful for something," the teen joked, quirking an eyebrow at him as if he was wondering if Seifer would rise to the bait.

"I'm not sure if I'm glad your sense of humor has returned or not. Though that conversation with  
>Axel was pretty fucking hilarious, don't think I've ever seen him rendered speechless."<p>

"Hey, you knew I was an ass going into this, and don't act like your sense of humor is so kind either. Ax is easy to taunt though, so is Rox for that matter. Axel because he's worried being a bottom damages his masculinity, especially considering how atypical it is if we go by the stereotypes of gay relationships. A stereotypical top is older, taller, and stronger than their bottom, people don't always take into account the personalities of the two. Rox is easy to piss off because he's usually angry and sensitive to begin with. Of the Turks, I think Reno is probably the hardest to make fun of, because he's fully aware of his faults and doesn't give a shit."

"I figured you'd say Tseng."

Hayner laughed, "Funny story actually. About a year or so ago I made a joke about him, Rufus, sex, and guns. I'm not sure if he blushed out of anger or embarrassment, but he didn't speak to me for a week after. As much as he is the epitome of composure, he's still human. Also very forgiving."

"Were you just trying to get him to react, or was that before you learned not to say everything that comes to mind?"

"Get him to react. It worked, probably because it was true. But apparently I was either too useful or too hopeless for him to stay mad about it," Hayner answered once he'd down the rest of his beer.

"Probably both. You know, I'm glad the Don burned his bridges with you early on, I can't imagine how badly we'd be fucked if you were on the other side. Demyx, Zexion, Reno, Axel, Roxas, Pence and Olette probably never would have joined the Turks, for one, and you are very hard to kill for another."

"From an emotional standpoint, yes, but before I junctioned with Ultima I could have been easily dispatched by a bullet to the brain."

"That implies you'd ever let anyone get the chance. You're a lot smarter than a back-alley shooting."

"True. If I remember correctly though, your file has you exceptionally proficient with a sniper rifle. I'm sure eventually you'd have killed me."

"Why do you think I'd be the one to kill you in this scenario?"

"Because if we are entertaining an alternate timeline my death should at the very least be poetic. In this timeline where I turned to the side of the law you saved my life and we're in love, in one where I remained with the mafia, we'd hate each other and you'd kill me. It's a very clean juxtaposition."

"True, but we both know the world isn't black and white like that. We'd probably fuck it up and end up in love and I'd have to kill you anyway."

"Now that would be a beautiful tragedy. I'm sure they'd make a movie about that, everyone gets hot for starcrossed lovers narratives. Since it'd be based on true events and about gay love, probably Oscar material, too. The Academy loves shit like that. I think it would be a lot more likely that if we fell in love, I'd fake my own death and wash my hands of the whole ordeal so neither of us would have to kill the other. We could hide away on the Islands or something romantic like that."

"We could fake your death the same way you did mine," the older blond added helpfully, entertaining the idea for a moment, "In the end it might not have been so different from how things are now."

"Maybe that's because they're how they're meant to be, or at least close to it. According to the world of magic we're essentially fated to be together in some capacity, be it friends, comrades in arms, or lovers. Still weird that people think of us as a matched set."

"I guess, but they probably would even if we weren't affinity matches, just because we're Turks. I mean, when you think of Reno or Zexion, what's the next thing that comes to mind?"

"Rude and Demyx. Guess you have a point. Seeing them apart is kind of weird. Reno, Rude, Tseng and Elena are kind of the odd ones out, they're the oldest other than Luxord, and they're the only ones not in a relationship with their partner. Are Rude and Tifa an item? I've been meaning to ask."

"They could be. If they are they're keeping it discreet. Why do you think they are?" He pressed, receiving an image of the two of them at the bar as an answer while he turned on the TV to see if anything interesting had blown up recently.

It seemed like they were just in time to catch the late night news, the mid-thirties blonde saying something about the Turks before he really tuned into what she was saying.

"_Investigators are looking into the death of the renowned journalist Robert Brooke, found shot in the head in his apartment this morning. Brooke did several exposés, including a groundbreaking story on the full reach of the Agents of the Alliance of Cities. Police were sent to his place of residence after he failed to report to work for two days, where they discovered his body next to a window pierced by a single bullet. Many of his documents and his laptop were removed from the apartment. Authorities are terming this a murder and are pursuing possible leads. Brooke was allegedly working on a story about our own Turks and had recently published a column calling into question the story of the detective and Turk Hayner Smith, who almost single-handedly brought Don Corneo's crime ring down several weeks ago, though little is known about him prior. If you have any information regarding the incident, you are urged to call the Twilight Police Force."_

The brown-eyed man frowned and grabbed his phone off the table, quickly dialing a number and pressing it to his ear. A quick check across their junction informed him the other was calling Larxene, under the impression that Xigbar had been the sniper in question, and without being asked he switched the phone over to speaker.

"What did you need?" She answered, edged voice softer than it usually was.

"Just tell me, did you?"

"If I know what you're referring to, yes. We're nearby actually, we could meet you in your apartment."

"Don't be seen."

"We never are," she said before she hung up, the line suddenly silenced.

"So Xigbar and Larxene killed Brooke? What made you think of them?"

"The missing documents; if he was looking into the Turks, that means he was looking into me. There are enough people still on the streets that would have given information away for money. Coke addicts mostly, but if this guy likes to get into the dark business of law enforcement I'm sure he's dealt with worse. Not saying he was a bad guy, or deserved to die, but he probably had secrets that could have undermined most of what we did."

"Wonder if they were hired, or took it upon themselves to protect you. If you were really in danger of being exposed by him, I'm glad he's dead."

"Seif, we can't go around killing innocent people just because-"

"They try to destroy an accomplishment that dozens of other innocent and good people have died for just to advance their own name? That is all he was doing, the man had no interest in reporting the truth, if he did he would have worked to help condemn Corneo."

The other male sighed, frustrated. He understood his partner's issue with the murder, he didn't like it either, but the journalist represented not only the end of the mafia's imprisonment, but also the end of Hayner's life at their hands. His life wasn't worth the thousands of innocents that would have been hurt as a result of his exposé. Some people just didn't see the bigger picture, think of anything other than themselves.

A knock at the sliding glass door roused him from his thoughts, Hayner standing and pushing it open for the two highly skilled assassins that had apparently managed to scale the building. They were dressed in all black, pulling down the hoods on their black sweatshirts when they were inside.

"So was it a job, or did you do it to protect me?" Were the first words out of his mouth, concern clearly written on his face.

"Which one would give you greater peace of mind?" The green-eyed woman returned quickly, giving him a brief hug.

"The truth."

"That's a lie, kiddo, the truth is never a relief. It was a job, straight from Rufus, actually. Man pays very well for incriminating documents to be removed and destroyed, and in cash. Way I heard it, Tseng had a plant at the newspaper report that Brooke was very close to getting concrete evidence of your true identity and everything that went with it. He passed it on to his rich and powerful boyfriend who has a keen interest in getting re-elected based on his successes with lowering the mob crime rate, and the Mayor came to us to do the dirty work because he knows we have a personal stake in it and wouldn't turn on him. The job was simple and clean, just the way we like it."

"Damn. Just how close was he, did you read any of the documents before you burned them?" Seifer asked, running a hand through his hair as he stood and walked over.

"He knew that Hayner was deeply involved with the mob from what I glanced at. If he knew about your real identity, he didn't write it down anywhere. It's possible he didn't want to put it down in the event someone tried to take his work, man was paranoid," Xigbar directed the latter to the sandy-blond, crossing his arms and shifting his weight.

"He seemed to enjoy making enemies of the people sworn to protect him, he probably should have been," Hayner responded, looking thoughtful, "What about what work he had saved at the newspaper?"

"The plant destroyed any indication of its existence. Something about a catastrophic server meltdown. If you'd left the news on long enough you'd have heard about that too. There's still a chance someone of more credibility than a crack addict has information on you, so we'll keep our ears open."

"By the way, if you were actually coming here to kill us and couldn't just snipe us off, how would you have gotten in?" The scarred Turk asked, guessing that most assassins had similar thought processes.

"If it was at night, your bedroom window, from there it would be easy to pick both of you off while you slept. Otherwise I would probably have Larx create a distraction at the door and enter through your balcony and shoot you from behind. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering how often you consider killing everyone around you."

"He means we overheard some people from a kidnapping ring involved with the Heartless talking about a hit they put out on us, we assume they're going to be showing up tomorrow night," Hayner corrected him with a slanted glare.

"Do you know who they are? We'll kill them for you," the lone female hissed, grabbing the man she'd helped raise by the front of his shirt as if to convey her conviction.

"Don't know who they are, and we can take care of them, Larx. You trust me, right?" He asked quietly, putting his hands over hers.

"Kid's gotta learn to handle assassins himself or he'll never be safe from them. 'Sides, you've gotten good at breaking shit since we last talked, leveled a building I hear," the man with an eye patch added, looking to the spiky-haired man for confirmation.

"It wasn't all that structurally sound to begin with, but yeah. I can use magic now, cast Life on this asshole a few weeks ago when he got himself killed."

"Do you like being able to use magic?" The blonde woman pressed, eyes narrowed speculatively.

"Not really, but if it keeps everyone alive I'll do whatever it takes."

"Try not to get whacked, Hayner, we'll see you around. Got another job soon," Xigbar explained as he waved and sauntered back out onto the balcony, jumping down.

"You know how to reach us if you need help, stay safe," Larxene added fondly before following her partner in crime.

"Give you any ideas for how to protect us?"

"Yeah, quite a few. I really regret having any windows and not being higher up right now, though."

"Can't have everything. We do have an attack panther that is woefully unutilized though, too bad we can't tell him to be on alert."

"I'm sure Griever will get the hint if someone breaks in, he's usually pretty good at that sort of thing. Are you still upset about that journalist?"

"I don't like having basically innocent people die for my sake. Sure he kind of brought it on himself, but he still wasn't a criminal. I'll let it go though, because being upset won't bring him back, and we have bigger issues to deal with than guilty consciences."

"One day our moral ambiguity is going to bite us in the ass."

"Sorry, what was that? All I heard was bite and ass," the brown-eyed detective returned cheekily, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Were those instructions?" Seifer asked with a grin before tumbling his boyfriend back onto the couch.

* * *

><p>The most difficult part of their day wasn't waiting for the attack, but explaining to Tseng and Elena why they shouldn't be worried about the two detectives when they stopped by, apparently gathering that something was going to happen to them because both their leaders were fucking psychic. Either that or they knew the two blond detectives well enough to assume something was going to happen to them because they had been carefully evasive of that tidbit when relaying the other information. In the end the only thing that convinced them that they didn't need extra help was Seifer reminding them that he'd already been killed twice and so far things had worked out just fine. At which point the blonde woman just threw up her hands and told them to get out so they could work out a plan for finding and disarming the bomb whenever it was planted and protecting the head researcher against kidnapping.<p>

"So, what is night to an assassin anyway? I feel like it makes a lot more sense for them to show up at night since it's already four and no one has tried to kill us, but I'm not sure if they're more evening people, or small hours of the morning people," Hayner asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

"Sometimes the way you approach events in your life is really fucking hilarious. I couldn't really tell you, I'm guessing around three or four in the morning because they'd expect us to be asleep by that time. It seems like a cliché assassination time, right?"

"It does, definitely, though if I were going to kill someone I'd probably do it in the middle of the day because they wouldn't expect it."

"But murdering someone in broad daylight tends to make it a lot easier for the cops to find you, and for a jury to convict you. It's a dilemma, really."

"Let's never become assassins because I think we'd be genuinely terrible at it," his boyfriend suggested with a thoughtful expression.

"Agreed. I'm too used to getting away with killing people to be good at actually trying to escape getting caught."

"You know, Reno was an assassin. When he was a cocaine-addicted mafia man, you know? Good at it, but always made a mess. Blood everywhere. Only killed gang members and errant mobsters, guess that's how he sleeps at night. Still wish I knew what Elena's story is that she puts up with his antics. They balance each other, I get that, but she seems too controlling to let his bullshit slide."

"I heard this from Tifa who got it out of Reno one time when he was drunk, so it's probably not very accurate, but eight years ago 'Lena got herself into a fuckton of trouble by being too stubborn to ask for backup, and Reno of all people was able to get through and rescue her from what was basically a certain-death situation. Their relationship didn't start until much later, but I think that's the reason she doesn't get on him about his hilarious personality faults and lack of professionalism. As far as why she puts up with it in the relationship, I have no idea. Romantic partnerships are the one area in which I don't even pretend to be able to analyze things accurately. People who are terrible for each other love each other, and people who would do fantastic together hate each other. It's a clusterfuck of nonsense and bad choices."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Seifer Almasy: the romantic. You are though, for all you complain about other people's relationships you really value dreams and love; it's absolutely precious."

"You can call me cute all you want, I'm not as insecure as you are about my masculinity."

"You only say that because sometime tonight you're going to kick the crap out of some guys whose job it is to kill people for money and beating people up gives you a power-high."

"Does it ever bother you that you're annoying as fuck sometimes?" He asked, pressing his boyfriend into the couch in mock irritation.

"No, how about you?"

"Not at all, I make a habit of being annoying as fuck."

Hayner smirked at him and rolled them off the couch and onto the floor, and this was exactly why he moved the coffee table to a safer distance. It only took one time of picking glass out of his back before he made that decision.

"Hey, promise you won't freak out on me if I die or something? Don't want you to be mad at me when I get resurrected. You know, no other couples have this conversation."

"Not gonna be mad at you for dying, but that doesn't mean you should be careless," he replied as evenly as he could before leaning down to kiss his partner.

At twelve they shut off the lights; it was a normal time for them to be going to bed if they had to be up early for another surveillance assignment on one of the targets and if they did something out of the ordinary it could set the would-be murderers on edge. He could sense the other's nicotine cravings from across the link, and wished he could honestly do something to help the stress that was making them worse. Griever seemed to sense the brown-eyed man's tenseness, jumping up and nuzzling him before attempting to clean Hayner's face with his rough tongue, causing the other to bat the cat off playfully.

"This is nice, you know?" He started, and even if the older man could read his companion's mind he was going to need some more clarification on that particular comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Not, being hunted or having the world depend on us obviously, but just…this. Being together. Living with each other. You can't live on love alone, but you can survive on it."

He smiled softly and kissed the other detective on the temple before commenting, "You're so damn cute, don't see why you can't admit it."

It seemed like he was going to retort when they both flinched, a spark across their junction to Ultima warning them that something was happening. Joining their consciousnesses and momentarily combatting the dizziness seeing two viewpoints at once caused, they crept quietly into two corners of the apartment. Seifer's room was the only one with a window that wasn't blocked like the one in the guest bedroom which they had shoved a wardrobe over, so he took up position just inside the door where he could easily shoot anyone coming in through it, and Hayner was pressed against the side of the living room with the sliding glass door in the only section of the wall that wasn't floor-to-ceiling glass. Thankfully they had drawn the blinds much earlier so nothing could be seen aside from the clear view into the hallway afforded by the doors themselves. Griever was between him and that particular weak point, and he had a feeling the cat would gladly tear anyone who tried to enter a new asshole.

"_Ellen says three people are storming the building through the front, I told her to stay the hell out of their way. You need-"_

"_No, I'll be fine. Hold your position, if I need your help I'll ask for it,"_ he cut the other off across their link, thinking of Xigbar's words earlier.

It was possible they were doing the exact opposite of the sniper's plan to have someone distract them on the balcony and then come in through the door, and he needed Seifer to be in a position where he could easily take a shot at the sliding doors if Hayner got caught with his back to one of the assassins trying to take down the ones about to break down the door. Of course, that assumed that there weren't any that were going to try and get through Seifer's bedroom window. They should probably attempt to make their home more secure in the event any more attempts on their lives were made while they were out of the field.

It was clear this wasn't their first time going after a dangerous individual if the speed with which one of them shot him as soon as they kicked the door off its hinges was any indication. They missed his heart by a few inches though, the searing pain only enough to give him minute pause before he shot the offender's shoulder and knee out and brought him down screaming. Griever pounced and took the other two down in the doorway in a flurry of teeth, claws and guns. He pinned one man's arms to the floor with spears of magic, forcing him to let go of his guns and jerk at them wildly to no avail. The black cat had his massive jaws wrapped around the last's neck, claws dug far enough into his right arm that his gun had fallen from nerveless fingers. He thrashed a bit but stilled after their faithful attack panther crushed his throat long enough for him to pass out.

Across their link he could see Seifer fighting off two others who shot out the window and swung in through it because apparently grappling hooks were standard-issue now, and he was just moving to help his partner when spiraling tendrils of arcane magic wrapped around him. He was knocked out of their junction and even his constant connection with Ultima, and all the mana in his body and the batteries he carried on him were drained instantly. Completely off-balance, he turned to the only other point of entry in the room to see two Viera with their ears pinned back and metal masks to conceal their faces walking in demurely from the balcony. One of them moved towards him and cast a sleep spell on Griever, while the other moved toward his lover's room, where assumedly he had taken out the two men he had to contend with.

As soon as he moved to pull his .45 the white-haired woman threw a thin knife at his shoulder deftly, the overwhelming fatigue and numbness he felt almost immediately telling him that it had been coated in a strong poison. He dropped his magnum and his knees gave out, leaving him unable to do anything more than stare at her as she pulled the phone with the number of the director of the Agents out of his hoodie pocket and undid the clasp on the chain that carried Ultima's artifact. She withdrew her knife and cast a healing spell to close the bullet wound before he bled to death, dark eyes meeting his briefly before she pocketed his necklace and dialed a number, holding it up close to her mouth.

"Hayner?" The director asked after a brief pause.

"The Harbingers of Ultima and Zodiark are both indisposed."

"Who am I speaking to, and what have you done with them?"

"I am Rinj. They have been poisoned and incapacitated and will soon be unconscious. There are assassins here unrelated to our faction that have not been entirely subdued, the Harbingers will require immediate medical and tactical assistance at their place of residence. There will be complete instructions for the retrieval of the Scions' artifacts left next to this device when you arrive. Be quick, hume."

She hung up and set both the phone and a carefully rolled and tied note down next to him. Covering his mouth and nose with her hand, her eyes crinkled at the corners like she was smiling.

"Sleep well, little Harbinger," she said gently as he faded out from lack of oxygen.

* * *

><p>He knew they had drugged him, because he woke up slowly instead of starting awake still panting from the throes of a nightmare or vision. There was immediately a man shining a light in his eyes and asking if he could speak, and it took him a few seconds to get his wits about him enough to answer.<p>

"Where's Seifer?" He managed, one-track mind panicking when he couldn't follow the warped junction bridge to his partner.

The man smiled and stepped aside, holding his arm out to where his sleeping companion was laying just five feet from him, "He's fine, too, before you ask; he's still working off the larger dose of poison they gave him. Since you were already so severely injured, it didn't take as much to bring you down. The annul spell they cast on you and the force field they seemed to have locked the artifacts in has damaged your junction bridge, it'll take both of you being conscious to repair it. Don't worry, it's nowhere near permanent."

"You deal with people who are junctioned a lot, don't you?" He guessed, fairly certain any other doctor wouldn't know the first thing about junctions or what happened to them when certain spells were cast.

"You don't know where you are, do you?"

He shook his head, briefly taking in the stark white room filled with most likely exorbitantly expensive and specialized equipment, including one that happened to be attached to him that was measuring and reading out the exact levels of mana that he was carrying on a second-to-second basis. There were two people on the inside of the door, and from what he could see through the small window, another one or two on the outside. A closer look revealed glowing eyes behind their sunglasses, so they were junction pairs.

"You're in the medical facility of the headquarters of the Agents. The _only_ people I deal with are perfect affinity matches that are junctioned. You're lucky that Viera healed you though, otherwise you would have bled out before we were able to reach you. Anyway, we're going to put you back to sleep until Seifer wakes up, it's a little too dangerous to risk you consciously trying to cross the bridge into his mind when it's unstable."

He was in the middle of voicing a protest when the sleep spell effortlessly dragged him under, beginning to understand this kind of rude behavior must be standard for everyone that knew magic.

* * *

><p>Blinking awake, Seifer immediately sought out his damaged junction with his lover, then relaxed once he sensed the other's mana signature right next to him, glancing over to see Hayner sleeping in a hospital bed. There were far, far too many powerful mages in the area for this to be a normal facility though, the four guards at the door were junctioned, so he had to guess this place was related to the Agents of the Alliance. He sat up, feeling the effects of whatever drugs they had him on as soon as he was vertical, dizzy and disoriented for a second. A doctor was suddenly at his side and he swatted the flashlight out of his eyes in irritation, leveling him with a glare.<p>

"Detective, I assure you I deal with Agents all day long that are just as ill-tempered as you and not nearly as drugged. Don't test me," he warned, grabbing him by the chin to hold him still while he reattempted to check the dilation of his pupils.

"You done?" He growled when the green-eyed man pulled away, earning himself an exasperated roll of the eyes.

"I'm very sure we didn't sedate you enough, but no, I'm not done here. I knocked your partner out to keep him safe, but now we need to get him conscious again so you two can repair your damaged junction. Then you need to talk to the Director."

"Have the Turks been informed of our whereabouts?"

"Tseng and Elena are here right now being debriefed and waiting for you two to wake up. The Viera that attacked your partner left very specific instructions, and those two were mentioned by name. I don't know the particulars so don't ask, the Director will fill you in."

He moved to cast Esuna on Hayner, leading him to believe the brown-eyed man was under a sleep spell. Jerking awake, he met Seifer's eyes and then focused on the doctor, looking pretty pissy for someone who just woke up.

"Does anyone _ever _think to ask before putting someone under a sleep spell?" He snapped before slipping into their junction and joining their consciousness.

It was a massive relief to have the other in his head again, though they broke the full connection after a second and went back to being at the back of one another's mind. Hayner seemed excessively uneasy at the loss of their summon gems, something akin to panic when he realized that without Ultima communicating directly with him they were completely fucked if either one of them died. The High Seraph herself apparently couldn't break through whatever warding they'd put on the artifacts to prevent them from attempting to defend themselves.

"_Calm down. I don't think those Viera or whoever they're working for are out to kill any of us; if they were, they had a fucking fantastic opportunity they gave up when they first attacked us."_

"_The one that brought me down and made the call to the Director actually healed me, and she told them we needed help immediately. They could just be attempting to trap more of us though, if Tseng and Elena and the Agents themselves are involved somehow in the ransom for Ultima and Zodiark."_

"_I'm not trying to be racist, but as a people the Viera are much more honorable and incredibly difficult to sway in the way ordinary humans are. The two that attacked us were dressed like Warders, though they had their ears pinned back to be less conspicuous, so I doubt they're common sellswords or assassins. I have to assume they were granted exit from the wood to relay their message and take something to convince us to come to them and were allowed to return."_

"_I've never heard of something like that happening, but…The fact that she referred to us as harbingers makes me think it has to do with the Heartless."_

"Well if the amount of chatter you two are exchanging is any indication, it seems that your junction to each other is once again intact. Nothing from Ultima or Zodiark though I assume?"

They shook their heads and the doctor sighed, gesturing to the guards to leave.

"Agents Shiva and Odin were the ones who rescued you, and they were kind enough to grab you a change of clothes. Everything you need should be in that closet, try not to keep the Director waiting," he added before exiting the room as well.

Tugging the IV out of his hand he healed the small wound closed before he started bleeding everywhere, he felt the mana in his blood start to attack the sedative and hoped it wouldn't be long before he could move without feeling dizzy. Hayner seemed to be having less of an issue than his counterpart, they had probably stopped drugging him after he woke up. Smiling softly, he offered Seifer a hand up, which the elder used to pull his lover into a kiss as soon as he was upright. Tangling his hand in the teen's mussed hair, he delved deeper into his mouth until the other bit his tongue.

"Come on, I am not going to be aroused in front of the head of the Agents and our bosses," he explained before moving the closet to retrieve his suit.

"That sounded like a challenge."

"Seifer, love, I adore you, but if you compromise me in front of them I will hurt you, and not in a sexy way."

He had the good sense to wait until they were both fully dressed before pressing his partner into the wall and kissing him furiously. At least he knew the sedative had worn off, otherwise he wouldn't stand a chance against how dizzy his companion made him normally. Especially when he made those tiny panting moans and blushed like he was completely overwhelmed by the scarred man from time to time.

"_You're a force of nature, how could I not be overwhelmed?"_

"_You still seem to give as good as you get."_

In response he could feel Hayner smirk against his lips, grabbing him by his jacket and reversing their positions roughly, holding Seifer securely by the back of his neck to prevent him from moving as he jammed his tongue down the taller man's throat.

"Agents or not, you affinity pairs are all the same, leave you alone for five minutes and you start making out like teenagers. Get with it kids, Director's not a good man to brush off," the doctor interrupted them, arms crossed over his chest as he stood in the doorway.

They pulled apart reluctantly, the younger giving him a playful look out of the corner of his eye that kind of made him want to tell the Director to fuck himself and tumble his boyfriend into the nearest closet. But unfortunately, he knew the other wouldn't have any part of that, so he was stuck being a responsible person and following the Agents guarding their door to the center of the facility.

"Seifer, Hayner, it's good to see you two conscious again," he greeted them, the others in the room turning to look at them.

Elena and Tseng were there just as the doctor had described, along with Fran, Cloud and Zack, and a pretty brunette woman with green eyes that radiated just as much magical energy as they did if not more. Her eyes didn't glow, so he had to assume that her mana was a natural thing, and that he had just met the most powerful magic-user he probably ever would.

"I'd say it's good to be conscious, but that's a little up in the air at this point. What did those Viera want?" Hayner replied, picking up on his counterpart's distraction.

"A formal meeting in their village with everyone here excepting Fran, who will lead us there. Balthier and Vaan are outside preparing the Strahl because it's not an easy place to reach in a standard plane. We'll be taking Agents ZERO as added security. We have about ten minutes before we're ready to leave. Your…house cat has been taken in by our tactical R&D department for gods only know what, but I assure you he will be returned in once piece and tended to in the meantime.

"Thank you, I appreciate that. And the quick rescue," Seifer answered easily, hoping he'd get to speak with the mystery sorceress before they took off.

"You'll have to thank Rinj, the warder that called me. If not for her, it would have taken us half an hour to register that your artifacts had been taken and actually get to you. By then one of the assassins would have recovered enough to do away with you and we'd just have to hope that Aerith could still bring you back. I need to discuss your current assignment with you and your superiors once we've returned, since we're on the topic."

He knew that meant that either the Director had managed to figure them out, or had gotten it out of the Turks present. The fact that the sentence wasn't followed by a glare or death threat or really anything but vague attentiveness told him that the man wasn't angry or likely to kill them any time soon, so there was still hope. Hayner seemed similarly preoccupied with the green-eyed woman, though he doubted it was because of her mana signature, more likely because she was standing close enough to both Cloud and Zack to be a dear friend of theirs.

The two agents that would be providing security arrived to talk to their leader in hushed tones and he was caught between wanting to meet the woman in the pink dress and knowing he needed to get a better read on the severity of their fuckup with Tseng. Luckily, the dark-haired man took it upon himself to make the decision for him.

"At least neither of you died this time, I suppose."

"I assure you none of this is our fault. We were prepared for the assassins, had them essentially taken care of three minutes after they infiltrated the building. The fact that two extremely skilled Viera warriors showed up in the middle of it was a ridiculous and unforeseen circumstance," he returned evenly, pale eyes squaring off with dark.

"Something that wouldn't have been an issue if you had accepted the extra guards. Reno and Rude have extensive experience with assassins."

"Because they were ones," he said before he managed to rein himself in, earning himself a cold look.

"What do you think they want with all of us? We're a fairly eclectic bunch, really," Hayner piped up.

"I don't pretend to understand the workings of a culture like the Viera, so I can't really make assumptions beyond the obvious inference that it has to do with the fate of the world," the exotic detective responded after a second of thought, eyes drifting over to his youngest charge with mild curiosity, "How are you faring, Hayner? I was told you suffered a bullet wound to your left lung."

"Rinj healed it before I could bleed out onto the floor. It hurts a little bit, but it hardly bothers me. I would have been able to take care of it myself if she hadn't have poisoned me."

"So, on a scale of normal to catastrophic, how bad is it that the Director knows about our current assignment?" The taller blond queried, always liking to know just how fucked they were.

"Not quite to the level of Axel with a fuel source, but getting there. I'm certain his knowledge of it has nothing to do with your actions, however. He doesn't appear ready to murder either you or our undercover agents, so perhaps all is not lost. And if it is…Well, Turks have never been known to bend to any authority but our own."

"Let's try to do everything we can to not have an all-out war with the Agents, because no matter who won, we'd destroy the city," Hayner said as a reminder, frowning.

"I think that depends largely on the two of you, actually. The Agents have a unique respect for you as the champions of the most powerful Scions we know of, and as perfect affinity matches you are most likely to be accepted as one of their own in discussions. As much as the two of us have a history with the Agents, it's you they're likely to forgive any trespass," Elena explained, eyes thoughtful.

"So don't fuck up and destroy the tenuous relationship between the Turks and the Agents, is that what you're driving at?" Her scarred subordinate translated, arms crossed over his chest.

"No pressure, of course. At the very least it would be a fantastic way for our deaths to make it into history," Tseng deadpanned before noting the way Hayner's attention kept going to the side, "You both clearly want to speak to Aerith, so go ahead. We can talk later."

They nodded in unison before stepping away to approach the triad, all of them giving the two blonds some sort of smile. If he didn't know better, he'd think Cloud and Zack approached each time they saw the pair as a miracle that Hayner and himself were still alive. Aerith probably just liked them because she seemed the kind of person to see the good in just about anyone.

"Making a mess of things again, aren't you? Also, Seifer, I strongly suggest you make efforts to die a little less in the future," Zack began before stepping further aside so he wasn't partially blocking the green-eyed sorceress, "This is Aerith, a Cetra, sorceress, and the only woman who has managed to put up with both Cloud and myself in the past without ever punching us in the face."

She smiled and stepped forward, throwing pretense to the wind and enveloping him in a hug before moving to do the same to his partner. There was something highly irregular about her that he only noticed now that she was so close, but it was comforting rather than disconcerting. Familiar, somehow.

"Nice to meet you, Aerith. What exactly did they mean when they said you're connected to the planet? I've been wondering," he asked once she stepped back.

"I speak to Gaia, and she talks back. It's not unlike the bond Hayner has with Ultima. I can also draw off of her directly, you may have noticed that I'm a lot stronger in terms of magic than most people."

"A mother. That's it, you radiate the feeling of a mother. That's from Gaia, isn't it?" The dark-eyed detective realized suddenly, something distant in his eyes.

It seemed odd that he'd recognize the feeling sooner than Seifer considering the elder had three more years to remember his mother by, but considering their circumstances it wouldn't surprise him if Hayner clung more tightly to his memories of the parent he'd lost than the scarred man had to his. He was sad, Aerith's presence serving to remind him of what he'd never get back, shirking away from their link when his partner tried to reach across it. As much as it bothered him that his boyfriend wouldn't accept his comfort, he understood and left it.

"Yes, though not everyone figures out why they feel at ease around me, I'm surprised you did so quickly. I'm so sorry for your loss, both of you."

He blinked quickly in confusion, mental shields slamming shut even more tightly.

"I didn't read your mind like you're thinking, it's just that everyone who pins down the feeling has lost their mother, usually at a young age. They're more likely to think of it as unusual because they haven't experienced it in so long. Guessing by the looks on your faces you've both lost your mothers."

"So, I guess you two are in a huge mess again. The Agents, huh?" Zack picked up the conversation with his typical easy smile like the world was just fine so long as he had his Spike.

"We decided that being constantly under the guns of every criminal in the city wasn't dangerous enough for us, so we figured we'd start annoying the Agents of the Alliance themselves. Only organization we could think of more powerful than the Turks," Seifer joked, wondering more seriously just how many resources the Agents had occupied trying to take care and keep track of them.

He knew agents Shiva and Odin were assigned directly to them, and wondered if the tech that connected them with the operatives was similarly damaged by the spell the Viera used to tear at their junction. There were more pressing matters to attend to, but at the very least he could thank them for their help without needing to track them down. It wouldn't surprise him if they were being tracked by the CCTV that the Agents had direct access to, possibly also by a computerized tracker that latched onto their mana signature not unlike a magic-user with a much wider sensor range. They were definitely tracking the summon gems, the Director had as much as said so, and it would stand to reason they were being tracked to ensure they weren't parted from them as well. Both because they needed them and because the gems weren't something that should ever be allowed into the wrong hands.

"Vaan just informed us that the Strahl is ready, follow me," the Director announced, cutting off whatever Zack was going to say in response.

The walk out to the landing pad on the top of the building was short once they were out of the elevator that took them up fifteen floors, and it surprised him just how tall the building actually was. The first two levels were underground, where most of the more volatile research went on apparently as well as where the Director was typically stationed, but the other thirteen were unusually spacious in the vertical, causing the structure itself to soar above the other buildings at the edge of the commercial district.

"_Why are the Agents stationed in Twilight anyway? Shouldn't they be in the same city as the seat of the Alliance, Radiant?" _Hayner asked, apparently stable enough to loosen his shields again.

"_I don't really know much about the history of the Agents, chances are it's actually classified information. All I can think of is that we're not landlocked like Radiant is, and close to the bridge that connects the mainland to Destiny Islands. You could ask the Director or the Agents if you'd like a real answer."_

"_What I'd really like to know is what his name is. Last name, at least. Kind of awkward to refer to someone as Director all the time, you know?"_

They sat next to the Director as instructed, Cloud and Zack to their left, and Tseng, Elena, Fran, and the male and female Bahamut ZERO summoners sat on the opposite side. Vaan and Balthier were in the cockpit, and he wondered why an organization like the Agents needed to contract sky pirates to shuttle them places. Certainly it was impossible with a regular jet, but you'd think they'd be able to afford a sky ship like the Strahl that didn't come equipped with felons.

"The Agents are stationed in Twilight because it had the most advanced magic monitoring system, built decades ago in response to magical crime. It was updated by scientists looking for…" He glanced over at Cloud and Zack, "Two escaped sorcerer-class military personnel that had run from a lab up in the mountains. Midgar, with the mako reactors all over the city that now lay dormant and abandoned, was impossible to monitor in a similar way and the framework didn't exist there in the first place, so they didn't bother. We later managed to duplicate the sensor web on a much larger scale in Radiant, but that wasn't until about five years ago. And if I could be frank, the Agents need to stay out of Radiant because the city is far too political for justice to be meted out if the members of the Council ever actually got their hands into our organization. To answer your other question, you can call me Director Jarrod. My last name is classified."

"You have some way to monitor thoughts traveling along junction bridges? Suppose it makes sense, considering your employees are all junctioned," the man with ice-blue eyes surmised, shocked technology like that could even exist.

"Magic technology, highly classified. It was made by someone much smarter than myself who realized that a few people junctioned to one another could cause the downfall of entire governments without ever uttering a single word that would betray their intent. Has a limited range though, unfortunately."

"Because of how much power it takes to force your mind into Midplane without a spirit or esper to open a path, I'd imagine," his companion guessed further, caught somewhere between playfully enigmatic about where he got the information and more seriously contemplating the implications of the Director being able to read their traded thoughts.

"I must admit, Ultima is more attached to you than even our researchers assumed. Handing you the secrets of the universe."

"Still hasn't told me who we're up against though. I'm sure she knows; I catch glimpses of them in my dreams, but nothing solid, the images keep shifting."

"It very well could be that you're seeing multiple timelines at once. That's the problem with the future, it's unstable. Of course, that also means we have the ability to change it."

"And if we try to change it and end up making it worse?"

Jarrod frowned, "Let's try to avoid doing that and deal with it if and when it happens. Time magic is a terribly dangerous thing, but we do have resources that can use it."

He was aware time magic existed, but up until this point hadn't met anyone that could use it. Maybe Cloud or Zack could and just never had reason to use or mention it, but otherwise he was at a loss for likely candidates. It was likely they kept themselves well hidden because of the rarity of and less than savory demand for their gift.

Considering the superior speed capabilities of the ship, he had to assume the trip of several hundred miles would only take them an hour and a half, maybe two. He did have to wonder at how they'd managed to convince the sky pirates that carrying a ship full of law officers of various types was a good idea. Probably offered them amnesty or something of the like, stole their number off Hayner's phone or tracked them in some other way.

He eventually just closed his eyes and tried to sense where they were by the mana signature of the area around them, failing up until they passed over what must have been a large town or small city. After some groping he eventually found the junctions he had with Ultima and Zodiark, following the threads and finding them essentially fluttering like strings in the wind after a point; the espers simply weren't there to hold down the other end. Moving back into his own head because having his consciousness on a one-way road to oblivion didn't feel particularly safe, he tried to get a read on the emotional state of his companion. Outwardly he was shut off completely, eyes hard and distant. Internally he was anxious, knowing they were flying into what could be a hostile situation or even a trap, and the two of them didn't have the benefit of their pocket demigods to rescue them if they got up a creek.

Deciding that he had nothing to prove to the agent next to him and if Jarrod wanted to listen in he didn't give a shit, he brushed against his partner.

"_Did I ever mention I'm really into exhibitionist mind sex?"_

His lover suddenly smirked and he could tell it took effort for the other not to laugh out loud. The Director was an example in stoicism.

"_No, you must have forgotten. And in exactly what situation did you discover this particular kink?"_

"_I don't kiss and tell."_

"_Not yet, anyway. You know damn well I could make you do anything I wanted."_

"_Yes, but you're the type that likes to figure things out themselves. Coercion is for people you don't have enough patience for."_

"_Let's amend that to people I don't care to be patient with. No one has the patience to deal with Roxas on a bad day, but I haven't coerced him that I'm aware of. The forced friendliness between you two was an apology so it doesn't count."_

"_Sometimes I really wonder how the fuck Axel manages to handle him basically twenty-four seven."_

"_By not trying to. Rox isn't the kind of fire that you can fight, you just learn to stay out of its path. And, while moody, he's really not that bad usually. I know that's not something you could have ever seen, since before this he was constantly doing anything he could to be an annoying little shit to you, and with everything that's been happening lately he's been under a lot of stress. He's not as at peace with his own mortality or that of the people he knows as we are, knowing that our lives are going to be in his hands even more than normal in an unknown amount of time is particularly hard on him."  
><em>

"_We were both introduced to death earlier than he was, weren't we? I guess we've had more time to adjust to the idea."_

"_Did Axel or Roxas ever mention that one incident where I shot a man dead for stalking Axel?"_ Hayner paused and the older detective sent him a mental affirmative, _"That was the first time Rox had ever seen anyone die. He was…eighteen? I think, around there. So we had thirteen and ten years on him respectively. And it just takes some people longer, some don't get there at all."_

"_I've always found it's easier to accept the danger I've lived with so long as I remember that no matter what, everyone has to die sometime. Just because I've done it twice more than normal people doesn't mean it's any less of an inevitable eventuality."_

"_I haven't cared whether I lived or died in at least five years."_

"_And even now you're not sure if you care or not, right?"_ Seifer asked gently, startling the teen that was staring down at his hands contemplatively.

"_It's amazing how well you can read me; you don't even need the junction half the time, do you? Does it bother you that I don't know for sure if I'm actually invested in my own survival?"_

"_I don't take it personally, if that's what you mean. Like I said before, it's selfish of me to want anything more than your happiness. You should never feel obligated to want to live, it's pointless if you're doing it for other people. The only thing I'm ever going to care about is whether I make you happy while you're here with me, and anything that comes after…Well, that's entirely up to you. All I can ask is that you let me know if there's something I can do to make you feel better."_

He realized distantly that his opinion of his boyfriend's possible lack of will to live would probably come off as strange or even cold if he ever had to explain it to other people. But the way he saw it, he didn't own Hayner or his life, and his partner owed him nothing. Making some sort of exaggerated claim about how if the other blond wasn't sure he wanted to live then he obviously didn't love Seifer was self-serving and controlling in the extreme. His counterpart was going to die eventually just like everyone else, making however many days they had together more enjoyable was the only correct thing to do and he just had to hope his company was enough to do that. Using emotions and guilt to hold the shorter male's own life hostage against him would do nothing but make him suffer. He'd be the scared, powerless kid that the scarred cop had gotten a brief but stunning glimpse of when the MRO grabbed him and his mental shields fell from paralyzing terror. If it wasn't for the gun immediately pressed to the other officer's head by Tseng he would have ripped the man's throat out with his bare hands; he couldn't even imagine actually inflicting that on someone he loved.

"_You have this habit of reminding me daily why I'm so crazy about you. Do you think I'll somehow manage to forget, or…?"_ He trailed off, voice warm over their connection.

"_It's not intentional, I am just this awesome."_

"_There will never be a person as arrogant as you, at least not one that's managed to live as long as you have."_

"_So I'm one of a kind?"_

"_That's a way of putting it."_

He smiled softly then became serious again, _"I love you, and that's all that matters."_

"_Love you too, Seif."_

He thought he caught a small smile on Jarrod's face out of the corner of his eye, but by the time he turned his head to look it was gone.

* * *

><p>It seemed to surprise everyone that they weren't immediately attacked, trapped, or disarmed upon entering the home of the Viera, the dark-skinned women with rabbit ears simply turning to look at them curiously as they stood at the bridge separating the entrance and the first gathering place. Fran walked and stood to the side, refusing to cross the bridge but gesturing for them to go ahead. Hayner knew she had her reasons for not joining them, but it still felt strange to be leaving her behind with nothing to do.<p>

It was Elena that had the balls to cross that boundary first, walking resolutely up to the nearest warder and asking to be lead to whoever had requested their presence. The armored women just regarded her before nodding and moving to climb a staircase leading to the next platform. They moved as a group after the two, and if Seifer and the two mercenaries with them seemed to surround him, he just assumed it was automatic. Apparently protecting him had at some point become standard operating procedure for all three of them. He didn't have the presence of mind to be annoyed with them at the moment; this close he could just faintly feel Ultima's artifact and it made him anxious to get the object back.

A woman that reminded him keenly of Fran greeted them finally at the end of several bridges, just outside a tent, "I am pleased that you have come to speak with us. This is Eruyt, and I am Jote. Harbingers, please accept your Espers back from Mjrn."

He had to assume Mjrn was the younger-looking healer that approached them with their necklaces floating in some sort of concentrated bubble-like veil. With a sharp word she made the barriers dissipate, catching the chains on which the materias rested and holding them out to be taken. She seemed shy, though this could very well have been her first time seeing humans, so maybe it was to be expected. They fastened the chains back around their neck and Ultima pulled the junction bridge between himself and the High Seraph taut.

"Why did you return these to us before talking? You don't have any leverage now, what makes you think we'll stay?" Seifer asked, voice hard and suspicious.

Red eyes blinked as Jote considered his words as if the idea never occurred to her. She wasn't stupid, but maybe the ways of humans eluded her.

"Are humes really so impatient as to come all this way and leave as soon as they get what they want back? I hadn't considered this. _Will_ you stay then, and listen to what we have to say? I must warn you, the wood will not let you leave until it is satisfied."

"So the trees are sentient, I was wondering who I was hearing," Aerith commented quietly, almost as an aside to herself.

"I'd like to know what was so important that you send warders out to disable two harbingers and take their artifacts. If we survived the trip here, we can spare a few minutes to listen. You must have a very good reason to allow your loyal warriors out of the wood, and invite humans in," the Director decided, and he had to wonder what relationship he and the two leaders of the Turks had that they didn't mind being spoken for.

"Please, come inside," she replied coolly, walking inside the tent.

They ended up sitting in a circle, Aerith and the male ZERO agent directly to the left and right of Jote and the rest of them arranged largely by familiarity. Her ears twitched as she took a deep breath, perhaps to steady herself, perhaps to draw in energy from the wood around her.

"There is a storm coming, a storm so powerful that even Gaia trembles before it. Normally the Viera of the wood do not engage the world of humes, but we must make an exception, as the jungle cannot protect us from the monsters that will soon crawl their way to our village. It is with great deliberation and at great cost of pride that we have called you here. The people of Eryut Village wish to pledge our aid to your army; we have skilled healers and highly trained warriors to offer. We fight not for your lives or ours, but for the fate of the world. This is the only cause lofty enough to warrant our intervention. Do you accept?"

"Can your kin follow orders?" Cloud asked, surprising almost everyone involved that he'd be the one to take the lead.

"We will allow ourselves to be directed for this war only because we cannot win it alone. Do not test us. The Viera are a proud people, I have lived longer than all of you combined and will continue to live long after you are dead. You have no right to lead us, but we will accept it because the world matters more than our pride."

"We'd be more than willing to accept your aid. How will we contact you?" Jarrod answered, face neutral.

"When the time comes, we will arrive wherever you are. Gaia will guide us to her child," the white-haired woman responded, lids low over her eyes as if deep in thought while regarding Aerith.

"Can I ask something? How did you know where we lived, much less that I had a direct line to the head of the Agents?" He queried, bringing her focus back to him.

"The wood told us everything we needed to gather you. Our world sees and hears everything, and she speaks through the trees. I admit I was…surprised to learn how young you were, even for a hume. Barely an adult by your standards and entrusted with the High Seraph. But the workings of the gods are not for me to question," she added for good measure.

He nodded warily, guessing that the Viera were probably rather offended at being largely left out of the core plan of the gods in favor of what they viewed as snot-nosed little shits with guns, magic, and far too much arrogance. Jote herself was probably close to three-hundred if not more and was still in the autumn of her life. He couldn't imagine how short and meaningless their lives seemed in comparison.

"If there is nothing else you wish to discuss, I must ask that you leave. We do not enjoy opening our home to outsiders, your presence causes further unrest as the minutes pass."

They stood almost in unison and nodded to her before exiting the tent. As they found their way back through the village he couldn't help but notice the way the atmosphere had changed in the short time they were here. There was a stark animosity in the air around them as the women either ignored them completely or glared at them as they passed, and he wondered if it was because the scent of their…humanity had had enough time to permeate their home and make them uneasy.

Mjrn seemed to be trying to convince Fran to stay in Eryut with her and he made the connection that she, Jote, and Fran were sisters based on her words. The long-haired Viera simply shook her head and placed a hand on the younger's shoulder before waving her off. Hayner couldn't imagine how difficult it had been for her to leave, even if she had her heart set on the outside world, it was never easy to give up your family and everything you knew especially since she knew she'd never be able to return.

"Are you finished here? This place does my mind no service," the archer asked curtly, some mix between a frown and a snarl on her face like she'd just bit into something incredibly sour.

"Yes, thank you for leading us here," Jarrod answered as they left to go back through the jungle until they reached the anchor for the Strahl in one of the few clearings the thickly wooded area had to offer.

"It's not my business, but…Why did you decide to leave, Fran?" He asked her quietly as she walked beside him.

She watched his face searchingly for several paces before coming to some conclusion and turning to look ahead of her again. Hayner had to assume she didn't want to dignify his question with a response, but then she sighed and started to speak.

"My sisters live in the wood because they are afraid of the changing world of humes. Traditions have turned to stagnation, our once keen minds have dulled over the centuries. The Viera are mindless servants in stasis. I saw this, and I left. I have never seen reason to regret my decision. There is a certain beauty to mortality; living in a dangerous world without the guarantee of survival has given my life passion. I may die before my kin, but until then I will _live._"

It was easy to understand where she was coming from, he hadn't actually started to live until Jack came along and as painful as that had been, as close as that had come to ending him, it was still worth it. He could say the same and so much more of his love for his partner. As much as he didn't know if he had much of a will to live, at least he was living right now. Before Jack and between his death and Seifer's appearance he had been nothing more than a body with a pulse. It took being alive to remember that he could die, to contemplate whether he cared about that or not. To himself he was no longer means to an end, he was a human being that could make the choice to just stop. He could only assume that was part of the reason for Seifer's calm regarding his opinion on the matter of his mortality, his boyfriend knew that if he told Hayner that he couldn't choose to die he'd be right back to going through the motions of maintaining a heartbeat to reach the goal of making the scarred man happy.

"_You always make me happy, Hayner. Even when you piss me off, I'm still glad to have you…For as long as I have you."_

"_Same here, Seif."_

He'd just have to hope that together they could keep themselves alive to enjoy each other's company.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: And this marks the crossing of the 500,000 words archived milestone I set for myself. There is a reason this took five and a half months to write, though I didn't want to bog down the beginning of the story with it. Roughly a month and a half ago (at the posting of this chapter) I broke up with my live-in boyfriend of close to two years, forcing me to move and rearrange the vast majority of my life. Even now I still haven't gotten all my possessions back and it's been a deeply exhausting and frustrating experience. As much as I wanted to get this out to you, I've had much more important things to do and my heart just wasn't in it. I hope you can forgive me, and I'll make the attempt to be slightly faster on getting the next chapter out. **

**So thank you for your patience, and your continued support of this story.**


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